Dr. Cheah’s Pages

My 2 cents

The current debate and the term Allah has caught international attention. The Catholics in Malaysia is fighting to use the word Allah in their Malay language translations for the benefit of those especially in Sabah and Sarawak. In this saga, they have taken a role of de facto leader for the Christian community in Malaysia, a role that I personally do not agree with.

Having grown up mostly as a Christian, I have never recalled using the word Allah for the translation of God. There were songs in Malay and the word used was Tuhan. The current furore that this has generated should prompt the Catholic authorities to rethink their claims. Even in the English language, we call God by many different names from Jehovah, God the Father, God the Almighty etc. This does not mean we are praying to an entirely different God each time we call him differently.

If the leaders in the Catholic church have enough sense, they should at least relent on this occasion. Pushing their agenda will only cause more turmoil and hatred towards Christians in general. This is certainly not the brightest way to fight for God.