I refer to the Malaysiakini report Opposition to Nazri's 'East-West' solution .

The shallow loose cannon strike again. Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mohd Nazri Abdullah should be dropped from the Barisan Nasional cabinet.

He is nothing but a gross embarrassment to not only Umno but Muslims as well. His simplistic view of this issue is worrying. Nazri, my frank advice to you is to dig deeper into this issue.

I’m a moderate Muslim far from religious but I shudder when I think what permitting the Herald to use the term ‘Allah’ is tantamount to. Yes, I do know that the term ‘Allah’ is being used by Christians in Egypt, the Middle East etc, but that is because their mother tongue is Arabic, hence the term is also being used there as a figure of speech.

And I don’t think we should compare ourselves  to Indonesia. Yes, they have the largest Muslim population but that is a matter of form over substance. I know that Munshi Abdullah has translated the Bible and used the term ‘Allah’. But was Munshi an Islamic scholar?  

‘Allah’ was never a biblical term  and since my fellow East Malaysians’ main language is Bahasa Malaysia - ‘Lord’, ‘God’, ‘Father’ should then be ‘Tuhan’ not ‘Allah’.

Just like what is stated is our Rukunegara - ‘Kepercayaan Kepada Tuhan’. It’s an irony how those who are pushing for the term ‘Allah’ to be used are confusing the masses by saying that in Bahasa Malaysia, the term ‘Allah’ has the same meaning as ‘Tuhan’.

I’m sure the Pope would have intervened if this clearly had to do with the New or Old Testaments and we were changing the facts about Christianity.

There is greater issue at hand  in permitting  the usage of the term ‘Allah’ to connote another faith’s deity, hence the grave concern amongst Muslims.