ICC Note: The heated debate over the use of the Arabic word for God, ‘Allah’, in Malaysia has revealed just how far the nation is willing to go in catering towards radical Islamic groups. The word has been used in Malay language versions of the Bible for hundreds of years, yet recently legal challenges arose, demanding that Christians and other religious minorities stop using the word to describe God. A raid on the Bible society of Malaysia and the brief arrest of its president has caused many in the nations 9 million strong Christian community to express fear over the direction their country is heading. 
1/20/2014 Malaysia (Charisma) – The Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic church seems like a model for the multicultural, tolerant Malaysia that its government likes to present to the outside world.
An ethnic Chinese priest conducts the service in the Malay language to a congregation made up of migrants from the country’s eastern Borneo island states along with a handful of Vietnamese immigrants.
But it takes only a few minutes for the worshippers to utter the Malay and Arabic word for God that has become a festering source of contention in the Muslim-majority country, deepening ethnic divisions and tarnishing its moderate image.
“We believe in Allah, the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth,” the 300 or so faithful chant.
A long tussle over who can say “Allah” in Malaysia has flared anew, as Islamization that many see as driven by political forces threatens to erode the secular constitution and minority rights in the ethnically diverse country following a divisive election last year.
A court ruling last October in favor of the government’s case that Allah is exclusive to Muslims was followed this month by the seizure of more than 300 Malay-language Bibles by Islamic authorities using a little-known state law.
Lawyers say the row now threatens to become a constitutional crisis as the federal charter’s guarantee of religious freedom is challenged by more assertive enforcement of little-used state laws and decrees by Malaysia’s royal sultans, who have the authority to appoint clerics and instruct religious police.
The crisis appeared to deepen on Sunday when Malaysia’s king, regarded as the defender of the Islamic faith, gave his backing to the October court ruling, the first time the largely ceremonial head of state has weighed in on the issue.
Malaysian police have recommended prominent Catholic priest Lawrence Andrew be charged with sedition for saying churches would keep saying Allah in Selangor, Malaysia’s most populous and richest state which neighbors the capital Kuala Lumpur.
The tussle over the right to use the word is uniquely Malaysian, bemusing many religious scholars even in countries with a reputation for much stricter Islam.
“When I go through Facebook you can see people are saying Malaysia is being such a funny country, we have become the laughter of the world,” said Richenda Raphael, a 25-year-old worshipper at the Catholic Mass.
“In Saudi Arabia all people can use the Allah word, but here we can’t. We should stop this,” said Raphael, who moved to Kuala Lumpur from the Borneo state of Sabah five years ago.
The latest bout of tension, and confusion, over the word was triggered by a court ruling in October that Andrew’s Catholic newspaper could not use Allah because it was not “an integral part of the faith in Christianity”. A federal court will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church in March.
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