I refer to Malaysiakini report Najib: We can’t stop people from protesting.

If a prime minister can say that, it means that the government has given the Muslim public the green light to group together after Friday prayers at the mosques to demonstrate in public on their disapproval of the High Court decision for a Catholic publication to use the term ‘Allah’.

The organisers of these public protests don’t have to apply for a police permit to hold demonstrations while the police force will only be there for crowd control.

Religion and racial issues can make or break a nation. The controversial ‘Allah’ issue seems to be a lighting rod for the present regime to win back Malay Muslims voters to the Umno banner. It is Allah-send (pun intended) and it allows Umno to play up the religious card to show that their party’s is more Islamic than their rival PAS when it comes to protecting Islam.

While I am not a religious scholar’s to give my opinion with regards to this controversial issue which seems to pit the Muslim community against the Catholics community, as a layman, I cannot help but feel that there seems to be two standards of law operating in this country.

If the demonstrations are organised by pro-government NGOs or supporters, no police permit would be required but if the opposite thing happens and the demonstrations are held by pro- opposition forces, rest assured that the police will be there to break it up.

Truckloads of FRU personnel and water cannons will be stationed to stop the street protests and people will be charged with illegal gatherings in court. What double standards.

Save for the May 13 incident, which nearly destroyed our nation’s fabric, Malaysians as a whole have lived peacefully with one another regardless of their race and religion. Unlike other countries like Sri Lanka, Thailand, Indonesia and Philippines where people kill one another in the name of their religion, ours is still a peaceful country where there is unity in diversity.

Since the court is the right place to decide on this sensitive ‘Allah’ matter, one can only hope that once the appeal court makes it decision, this controversial issue of using the term ‘Allah’ name in the Catholic publication will simmer down.

What a great world this would be if people could spend as much energy practicing their religion than they do quarreling about it. All the great religion teach their flocks to do good deeds and be friendly to their neighbors.

Ignorant people who don’t practice their faiths correctly stray from the right paths. In fact Jews, Christians and Muslims are from the Abrahamic faiths and believe in the same God in their own ways. The parables in the Torah, Bible and the Holy Quran are words spoken by the same God regardless how these people call their Creator.

Social ills like drug abuse, the Mat Rempit menace and corruption all of which are major scourges are normally associated with the Malay-Muslim community and one wonders why the religious authorities don’t address these issues first.

Educated people regardless of their faith should look at the big picture and not let the controversial issues of ‘Allah’ to divide us. The present weak government is at its tether’s end to win back the Malays vote by any means.

Let us not be fooled by the government’s tactics to divert the people attention from other more substantial issues involving our nation.

Non-Malays, by now, know the true colours of their present leaders who unashamedly use the race and religion cards to become popular among the people. ‘1Malaysia’ is just a mirage to confuse the people that the government will be fair to all and sundry.

Actually, only the elite get the biggest share of the economic cake while the poor regardless of whether you are a Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Christian or of another religious faith suffer from government incompetence and corrupt practices.