How is UMNO Baru going to extricate itself from the 'Allah' crisis is anybody's guess. After all they started it, they should be ones to be able to bring the issue to an end. But then, maybe it will still linger on for a long while yet for two apparent reasons. First, if they agree with what international Islamic scholars have said about the word 'Allah', they would lose credibility and the Malay people would be left in a state of flux. So this is out. They need to 'milk' the issue for as long as it takes, because they want Selangor back into their fold. It doesn't matter whether the Christians and Sikhs feelings are trampled upon so long as it helps to achieve their goal.
Since there is a paranoia (manufactured by UMNO Baru) amongst the Malay community that the Christians would proselytise to them, here are a couple of suggestions for UMNO Baru and perhaps the community itself to think about, and to a greater extent, allay their fear.
1. To begin with, make English the main stream of our education system again. With the inadequacy of the BM language, there is very little opportunity for the Christians to speak fluently or eloquently to convert the Malays. It is really amazing that there have been so much accusations hurled against the Christians in this respect, but yet until today, not a single shred of evidence have been brought forward or culprits being charged. To reinforce their accusations, Hasan Ali of JATI said he knew the pastor, even by name, who had been converting Muslims to become Christians. The question is, why was there no police report made and why were there no arrests made?
2. The East Malaysians are not going to stand down, so this will become a thorn on UMNO Baru's side, just like Singapore in the 60s, when Lee Kuan Yew continued to drum home policies that will provide equal opportunity to all Malaysians. If this is the case, UMNO Baru can easily ask Sarawak and Sabah to leave the federation. If they can do it to Singapore in 1965, there are no reasons why they can't do it now. By doing so, we can live happily ever after.
3. Make it an offence for a non-Malays to speak in BM to a Malay, and that all Malay newspapers, books, magazines, etc are to be stamped "Not to be read by Non-Malays" as otherwise the non-Malays would improve their communication skill in BM and thus will be able to proselytise to the Muslims. Anyone found breaching such policies will be jailed or fined or both.
4. All written communication to government departments or agencies must be in English. BM is prohibited for fear of Christians stealthily using the language to proselytise to the unwary Muslim readers.
In their earnest desire to show how Islamic they are, UMNO Baru has added more words to bar non-Muslims from using them. It gives you the impression that either the Holy Bible contains all these words or non-Malays have a copy of the Holy Quran in their homes, and may for some devious reasons, use them to convert the Muslims. Such logic is really astounding to say the least.
Ironically, one of the words banned by UMNO Baru is 'Injil'. Now one of the main churches in Sarawak is known as Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), a church where Idris Jala belongs to. So is the church going to be made to change its name or will UMNO Baru say this is a different issue entirely. Fortunately, the Roman Catholic Church is not facing such a dilemma as otherwise it will look utterly ridiculous for the church to change its identity after having been in existence for the last 2,000 years.
Written with a tongue in the cheek, but it could be a workable solution.
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