Letter by Karamchan Naidu
I am a Johor boy. Studied there all my life. Every week for the past 12 years of my primary and secondary schooling I used to sing the Lagu Johor at the school assembly.
The song is as follows;
Allah peliharakan Sultan
‘Nugrahkan dia segala kehormatan
Sihat dan ria, kekal dan makmur
Luaskan kuasa, menaungkan kami
Rakyat dipimpini berzaman lagi
Dengan Merdeka bersatu hati
Allah berkati Johor
Allah selamatkan Sultan.
The government and more recently, the Sultan of Selangor has said the usage of the word Allah by non Muslims are illegal and wrong. If this is so, how come I, as a non Muslim, was forced to sing this song every week?
The word Allah is engraved in my mind as reference to the Almighty God.
Am I now in a position to sue the Johor State government for encouraging me to do something illegal? Mind you, Johor is the BN stronghold, so, how come the government is also not banning the Lagu Johor?
#1 by Rocky on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 11:10 am
well looks like it may not be in Johor but in Selangor it is illegal for non muslims to use Allah thus they can’t sing the state anthem. Check so call statement by sultan of Selangor in Utusan.
#2 by Bigjoe on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 11:43 am
Let me say it again. This issue is about UMNO losing control over the ultras/fringes which they are suppose to have greater control over time with their policy. Its not about religion.
#3 by taiking on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 11:55 am
Umno has been seefoured and now it is in bits. So dont expect umno to make sense. Look. The whole nation (malays included) is talking about unity and harmony and umnoputras decided to turn the other way and talk tough instead!
#4 by Motorist on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 12:07 pm
Its about UMNO playing dirty politics.
The means justify the end. Anything to stay in power
#5 by ktteokt on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 12:40 pm
There seems to be many contradictions to this Allah stuff. Take a closer look at the coat-of-arms (logo) of PDRM! It contains the word “ALLAH” in Jawi. Now, there are non-Malays in PDRM, right? Then these people should also remove this coat-of-arms from their uniforms then! They are not entitled to wear them!
I think this ALLAH issue was the biggest mistake by BN/UMNO! They are burning their own feet!
#6 by Onlooker Politics on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 1:14 pm
Karamchan Naidu,
It is OK for you to continue singing the Johor State Anthem because the Sultan of Johor does not put ban on the usage of “Allah” by you!
However, if you happen to come across any friends coming from Paloh or Kahang, please remember to remind them that Hishammuddin should be voted out of the seat from the Parliament by the next General Election. I believe the Sultan of Johor will be happy for your friends to do so. The Sultan always encourages the non-muslims Orang Aslis from all over the Johor State to worship “Allah”, even before the Orang Aslis have been converted into muslims! Therefore, the Sultan of Johor will never prohibit you as a non-muslim from addressing God as “Allah”!
#7 by pulau_sibu on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 1:58 pm
Because of God and Allxh, the world is in conflict. Places like the Middle-East is fighting because of God and Allxh. How nice would it be if we can have no God and no Allxh.
Then it would best to have communism so that the people believe in only one person, but no God/Allxh.
#8 by Billy on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 2:01 pm
UMNO, unwittingly, have opened up the Pandora Box and I am sure they must now be busy pondering over how to contain the fire from spreading further. For 47 years after Sarawak and Sabah have joined the federation, and 16 years after the publication of The Herald, only now they have decided that Malay Muslims will be harmed by Christians in the country when the use the word “Allah”. What are they trying to take us for? Fools? You only act when you receive news about impending problems, but for 47 years we were living in peace and only now they say Malay Muslims will get confused, Christians will start to covert the Muslims and all other potential disasters, making me think that 2012 have come sooner than I thought. Ironically, by embarking on such a ban, UMNO itself have become a threat to national security, creating social upheaval and to say the least, confusing the Muslims in the process [one UMNO leader say it is a religious issue. Then another UMNO leader says it is a Malay issue. So which is which? A religious issue or a Malay issue?]. Now we have two type of Islam, one the middle eastern version and the other, the Malaysian version, and all this while I thought Islam was a consistent religion. Another point is, the Catholic community only consists of 850,000 faithfuls. Do you honestly expect people to believe this small group of people are out there converting a Muslim population of 15m?
#9 by Godfather on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 2:48 pm
Just stop singing the damn song !
#10 by dawsheng on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 3:01 pm
I hate to agree with Godfather but I think he is right.
#11 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 3:20 pm
What do u expect when ppl gave knee-jerk reactions without thinking
No brain reactions
No issue became a big issue
Selangor – nonMuslims cannot use d A term
Some other states – no problemo
#12 by baochingtian on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 3:51 pm
If “A” is so rightfully Muslims’, why is it being used by Christians in Indon? The claim is not by Muslims, but by the power craze party in this bolehland. How sad!
#13 by taiking on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 4:12 pm
Actually the song is unconstitutional because it was meant for muslims only which is a denial of non-muslims rights in that state. Johoreans must fight to have the lyric changed from “the word” to “tuhan”.
#14 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 4:55 pm
Maybe d person who wrote d song actually wanted A to mean everything divine
So that everyone, not only Muslims, can sing d song
What’s wrong 2 hv everything divine 2 look after S
Rather than just 1 A, based on Umno B narrow interpretation, 2 look after S
#15 by frankyapp on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 6:48 pm
Hey you guys,so much about the A word,please don’t forget Atantuya, C4, Perak power grap,TBH,PKFZ,lost jet engine,firebomding churches and most of all don’t forget to vote for PR in the 13GE.
#16 by ReformMalaysia on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 8:01 pm
well UMNO
you claim that the word Allah is only for Muslim
why don’t you claim that Islam is only for Malay?
#17 by grace on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 9:09 pm
The best way is the non Muslim pupils will skip the word Allah while singing the anthem.
Or the pricipals make the Muslim pupils sing the verses with Allah while the non sings verses without Allah. Solve everything
#18 by yhsiew on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 9:19 pm
I heard a minister said the non-Muslims can use the word “Allxh” (e.g. they may say to their Malay friends “Allxh take care of you”), but they cannot use it in publication or use it to impart religious influence to the Malay community.
#19 by cemerlang on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 10:26 pm
You don’t have to sing. You only need to be around. Who knows if you don’t sing since you are in a big group ? Or you can just purposely not sing that word or replace it with your own word.
#20 by boh-liao on Wednesday, 13 January 2010 - 11:43 pm
In 2007, d Majlis Agama Negeri Perlis discussed d question of d use of ‘Allah’ by nonMuslims
They issued a fatwa to say dat there is absolutely nothing wrong with nonMuslims using d word at all
So, now, it’s a case of You say No, I Say Yes, You say Stop, I say Go, go, go oh no
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99jVPJUeqr4
#21 by boh-liao on Thursday, 14 January 2010 - 9:22 am
So, Karamchan Naidu, you may instead sing
You say No, I Say Yes, You say Stop, I say Go, go, go oh no …….
#22 by tanjong8 on Thursday, 14 January 2010 - 11:03 pm
Yes it is a political issue.
UmnoUtusans are driving a wedge between Muslims and others to benefit from it.
The evils must be thrashed.
#23 by taiking on Friday, 15 January 2010 - 8:49 am
These half-baked clowns are from the wild wild west. They swagger about (too fat actually), talk tough (bully? no now terrorist) and shoot from the hip (a result of BTN). In reality, they are basically kosong upstairs; and are highly emotional, easily confused and adulterous beings.
#24 by samurai77 on Friday, 15 January 2010 - 4:56 pm
Basically, these UMNOputras have no brains. When they try to shoot something, the gun is always pointing to their own butt.