Legislation for Conversion?

As announced yesterday by the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz and reported in various medias, the Cabinet decides that children must follows the original religion of the parents at the time they got married if any one of the parents converts to another religion.

The Sun reported that "These were among the long-term solutions discussed by the Cabinet today in the wake of the latest case of Mohd Ridzuan Abdullah and his wife, M. Indira Gandhi, and several other similar cases before them."

This decision by the Cabinet is laudable but I hoped the AG office will come out with a specific law to ensure the Cabinet decision is to be adhered by all civil servants all the way from the top to the lower rung.

This request should be understandable since the government announcements on similiar issues in the past has been just like that. Announcements without any concrete steps to ensure it will be implemented as intended.

What happens to the April 2008 announcement that steps will be taken to set a regulation that requires any non-Muslim who is converting to Islam to inform their family before their conversion. It is already more than a year but there is no developments on this matter since the announcement by the then Prime Minister.

Do we have to wait for another similiar case to have this matter to be taken seriously by the Cabinet, again?

1Malaysia, Performance Now? - Loka

What's in a divine name

I received a sms last night from a former MP suggesting to me to watch the 9.30pm live discussion forum "Isu" on TV 1. The topic was "Wajarkah nama Allah digunakan semua agama?" ( Is it proper for all religions to use the Allah name?)

The panelists includes a Muslim activist who was formerly a Christian preacher now based in Sarawak, a Chinese convert who is vice president of Malaysian Chinese Muslims Association and a lecturer from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The talk show was moderated by Sayed Munawar, a regular hand in TV 1's live forum.

The topic of the show was clearly conceived to address the controversy arising from the insistence of the Herald - the Catholic Weekly for their right to use the term "Allah" to describe their religion's God in their Malay version publication.

The right to use the term "Allah" has been brought to court by the publisher of the "Herald - The Catholic Weekly". The government via the Home Ministry has disallowed the Herald from using the word "Allah" in its publication. The government said the usage of the term by the publication will arouse sensitivity and create confusion amongst the Muslims in the country.

After watching the whole program I thought it will be more apt for the topic be changed. Firstly, the panelists are representing only one religion i.e Islam. Secondly all arguments emphasised the term "Allah" can only be use by Muslims. Thirdly, those pre-recorded and pre-arranged telephone call-in views are from Islamic scholars.

What will be the perspective of the Catholic church or the Sikh Gurdwara as recorded in their holy books? That's the missing link on the program. Even though at least two of the Islamic speakers tries to explain the reason why the Christian God is not "Allah", wouldn't it be more convincing for the viewers, especially for people other than the Islam or Christian faith if a bishop or priest are invited for their point of view?

As a viewer who is neither Muslim, Christianity or even Sikh, I would be more appreciative of the TV forum if the panellists invited to the program includes representatives from other stakeholders who are claiming the right of usage of the term. A pre-arranged telephone caller from a Islamic organisation had suggested a scholarly discussion amongst the various religions with an interest on the issue which I think will be more enlightening for everybody.

Sometimes if information are coming only from one side, people will be more curious to enquire what the others are saying. - Loka