Author: AP
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 09, 2010
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/rest-of-world/3-Malaysian-churches-attacked-in-Allah-dispute/articleshow/5423133.cms
Three churches in Malaysia were attacked with
firebombs, causing extensive damage to one, as Muslims pledged yesterday to
prevent Christians from using the word "Allah, " escalating religious
tensions in the multiracial country.
Many Malay Muslims, who make up 60 percent
of the population, are incensed by a recent High Court decision to overturn
a ban on Roman Catholics using "Allah" as a translation for God
in the Malay-language edition of their main newspaper, the Herald.
The government says Allah, an Arabic word
that predates Islam, is exclusive to the faith and by extension to Malays.
It refuses to make an exception, even though the Herald's Malay edition is
read only by Christian indigenous tribes in the remote states of Sabah and
Sarawak.
Yesterday prayers at two main mosques in downtown
Kuala Lumpur, young worshippers carried banners and gave fiery speeches, vowing
to defend Islam.
"We will not allow the word Allah to
be inscribed in your churches, " one speaker shouted into a loudspeaker
at the Kampung Bahru mosque. About 50 other people carried posters reading
"Heresy arises from words wrongly used" and "Allah is only
for us."
"Islam is above all. Every citizen must
respect that, " said Ahmad Johari, who attended prayers at the National
Mosque. "I hope the court will understand the feeling of the majority
Muslims of Malaysia. We can fight to the death over this issue."
The demonstrations were held inside the mosque
compounds to follow a police order against protests on the streets. Participants
dispersed peacefully afterward.
Malaysia is often held up as a model for other
Islamic countries because of its economic development, progressive society
and generally peaceful coexistence between the Malay majority and the ethnic
Chinese and Indian minorities who are mostly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.
The Allah controversy, however, has the potential
to shatter that carefully nurtured harmony, drive a deep racial wedge and
scare away sorely needed foreign investment as the country struggles to emerge
from the global financial crisis.
Prime Minister Najib Razak condemned the attacks
on the churches by unidentified assailants, who struck before dawn in different
suburbs of Kuala Lumpur. He said the government would "take whatever
steps it can to prevent such acts."
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the
country's leaders were very concerned about the situation.
"We don't want this to spread out into
something else. ... I am not only assuring the minorities, I am assuring all
Malaysians - anybody who is in Malaysia - that they are safe, " he told
reporters.
In the first attack, the ground-level office
of the three-story Metro Tabernacle Church was destroyed in a blaze set off
by a firebomb thrown by attackers on motorcycles soon after midnight, police
said. The worship areas on the upper two floors were undamaged and there were
no injuries.
Two other churches were attacked hours later,
with one sustaining minor damage while the other was not damaged. Church officials
had earlier said a fourth church was attacked but they later retracted the
report saying they were misinformed. National police chief Musa Hassan said
the report of the fourth attack was a rumor.
No arrests have been made.
The tribespeople of Sabah and Sarawak, who
speak only Malay, have always referred to God as "Allah, " an Arabic
word used not only by Muslims but also by Christians in Muslim-majority countries
such as Egypt, Syria and Indonesia.
Many Malaysian Muslims say its use by others
would mislead people, tempting them to convert to Christianity.
Since the verdict, hateful comments and threats
against Christians have been posted widely on the Internet, but this was the
first time the controversy turned destructive.
Kuala Lumpur police Chief Mohamad Sabtu Osman
told The Associated Press that a witness saw four people on two motorcycles
breaking the glass front of the Metro Tabernacle church and throwing an incendiary
object inside before fleeing.
He said police found a wrench, an empty gasoline
can and two scorched motorcycle helmets at the scene.
The backlash against the court verdict has
reinforced complaints by minorities that they face institutional discrimination.
They say it is almost impossible to get permission to build new churches and
temples. Some Hindu temples have been demolished in the past. Court verdicts
in religious disputes usually favor Muslims.