It does not seem to stop the clash between Muslims and Christians in Malaysia, where, until now, have been attacked nine places of worship.
The clashes have gone on for four days, when the most radical Muslims
have revolted after the December 31st ruling of the Constitutional Court, which allow also the Christian minority to indicate
their god with the name of Allah
Integration is not only an Italian problem. It is an issue also for those countries that for centuries have seen the coexistence of cultures and religions. Sometimes it is possible to resolve it only through the common sense of people. But not always.
In Malaysia, a country of 28 million people, for centuries the ethnic
Malay (Muslim), nearly to 60% of the total population, have lived with the remaining
40% consisting of Indians and Chinese who are Hindu or Buddhist. There is a small minority, less than 10%, which is Christian and for centuries has called to the God of Abraham with the name of Allah. In 2007, however, the
Interior Ministry issued a restraining order for which the weekly The
Herald, distributed in the Christian community, could not use the name
"Allah" for the Christian God because this could cause chaos and
confusion in Muslim majority.
The weekly had recourse to the Constitutional Court to remove this ban
and, after more than two years, on 31st December of last year the Court has reached a sentence: the measure of the ministry is illegal, invalid, unconstitutional.
The Muslim community has
been critical of the proceedings of the High Court, which has
suspended, in the meanwhile, the implementation of the sentence and the Ministry of
Interior has already appealed. The Constitutional Court, however, did not set out anything new.
Because if you look at the history of Malaysia, at its geographical
location and above all at the peaceful coexistence among so different ethnic groups, there was no other sentence to make. The name of Allah should not be for the exclusive use of Muslims, the judges said. This is because the Arabic word Allah predates Islam and is used in Christian churches in the Coptic community in Egypt and Syria. The sentence handed down, then, is not a news.
The authorities have said that the Molotov throwed at places of worship were reckless acts of isolated and "emotional" individuals, but they did nothing to tone down the dispute and just a few days before the ruling the government of Malaysia has seized ten thousand Bibles because they used the word "Allah".
The only certainty so far, is that in trying to steal a name, the Malaysian society is highlighting their differences. So the plan of Prime Minister, Najib Razak, to regain the support of non-Muslims before the elections of 2013 is becoming very difficult. And the dispute in the name of Allah is likely only to keep away foreign investors from Malaysia.
Marianna Lepore
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