Malaysians have become somewhat used to the idea that there must be truth to what is said, and have to a very large extent accepted that if Anwar Ibrahim cannot be out o­n bail it's due to 'national security'. The same goes to all those languishing in Kamunting for some reason or another.

And now for the very same reason, I'm told that the Iban Bible should be banned as it is a threat to national security. I refer to ' Give us back the Iban Bible ' by Michelle Lee Su-Lin. By her reckoning it is not so much the content of the Bible rather than the language used. After all, its content should be the same as that found in the English, Chinese, Tamil, Malayalam and Malay Bibles that o­ne can find proliferating throughout Malaysia.

Now if it is the language that the government has problems with, then it would appear that unlike Arabic, the language of the Prophet, the Iban language would seem to hold a more sanctified position within the domain of theocratic Islam. Or maybe it's just the use of the word "Allah" in the language.

But then there are Bibles in Arabic and there are Christian Arabs including some who are Palestinians, Jordanians and Egyptians. And they do refer to their God by "Allah" too. That word is indeed used in churches throughout the Arab world, and I have also heard it used in the pulpits of the churches in Malaysia.

Now if I understand it correctly, "Allah" is Arabic. Its use and abuse should lie with the keepers of the language and I would presume that they to be Arabs as well. By the Malaysian government trying to control the use of this word it would seem like as if they have a proprietary interest in the use or abuse of someone else's language.