Who own a particular language?

It has been reported in several papers, including Malaysiakini, that the Home Ministry decided on Tuesday to approve the renewal of annual printing permit of a Catholic newsletter, 'Herald'.

But the ministry's Publications and Quranic Text Control unit deputy secretary Abdul Razak Abdul Latif said, the approval letter sent to the publisher outlined three rules that they must abide by. They are:

- to cease the publication of Herald in Bahasa Malaysia until the court decides on its move to seek a declaratory relief that it is entitled to use the word "Allah";

- that the publication can only be sold in churches; and

- that it prints clearly on the cover that the paper is only meant for Christians.

By the way, I am very fortunate to have been educated in English from primary school through secondary school and tertiary institution. Had I been educated in Malay there is a real likelihood that Malay or Bahasa Melayu would have been the language that I know best or at home with. Therefore, naturally I would prefer reading the bible or other religious publications in Bahasa Melayu to reading those published in the English language. But the big problem is the Barisan Nasional government led by UMNO disallows many Malay-equavalent terminologies that are peculiar to the bible. The government claims those terminologies, including "Allah" and "ka'abah" are the exclusive domain of the Muslims. But many of us know those words have their origin in Arabic or Hebrew that had been used long before the birth of Islam or the glorious advent of Islamic civilization.

Is it not a great irony when the government has abolished the English medium schools and replaced them with Malay medium schools but refuses to allow Malay terminologies to be used in Christian literatures that have to be written in the Malay language?

Is it not a greater irony that the Barisan Nasional government only allows those Christian literatures to be published in English language after the Barisan Nasional government had succeeded in making the new generation proficient in the Malay language and simultaneously making them retarded in the English language? The Barisan Nasional has been teaching its citizens to master the Malay language but refuses to allow them to use the language on certain subject matter. There is a possibility that Bahasa Melayu is the only language that its citizens know.

The question is, who own a particular language,namely, the Arabic or Hebrew? Who give certain people the right to stop others from using a particular language? Any language is a universal tool of communication and has no owner. Hence it can be studied and used by anybody. As far as I know, it is only in Malaysia that certain category of its citizens are prohibited from using its national langauge in religious literatures or religious worship.

Talking to some of my Muslim friends, I managed to gather that many of them are feeling insulted with such ruling. By such ruling they feel the government belittle their faith and religious conviction. I tend to agree with their reasoning, namely, no Muslim would jump the bandwagon and get converted to Christianity simply because they found the word "Allah" in the Christian bible or certain publication. I once had a devout Muslim teacher who knew so much about Christianity because she took Bible Knowledge and Divinity in her Senior Cambridge and Higher School Certificate respectively. And yet she remains a devout Muslim until today. So what is the rationale of depriving the Christians of the use of the national language in their religious publication?

The rationale of the government's ban on the use of certain words, which are purely a question of language, is not acceptable at best. And at worst it is a sign of stupidity and immaturity of those in power.

There is no use talking about tolerance and unity when those who preach them refuse to practise the same. Last night Tan Sri Azman Hashim, whose Ambank Group was the principal sponsor of AMBANG 2009 at the Dataran Merdeka, when asked about his new year's wish, he said one of them was his hope to see a harmonious Malaysian society. I agree with him. But it is very sad that apparently the attitude of those on the corridor of power do not seem to be consistent with that hope.

Malaysia is a beautiful country having what I call ethnic felicity and with a great future ahead. But in order for this country to continue to succeed and remains internationally competitive it must not take its citizens' intelligence for granted. Citizens are assets and therefore ought to be respected.

By ushering 2009 with such a distasteful decision, my prediction is that the current government is shortening its life span tremendously. Be that as it may, let us watch what is in store for us this post March 2008.

I wish all Malaysians a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2009.