Tuhan, Dewa, Allah for wording of the Constitution?
In her letter to Malaysiakini “Malay word for God is ‘Tuhan’ “Fathima Idris wrote:
“Thus if Wong is sincere in the assertion that Christians here refer to Allah since it “originated in the Arab world” then I believe they would have no objections to the first principle of the Rukun Negara being amended to read “Kepercayaan kepada Allah”.”
Based on Indonesian experience at the time of constitutional debate (1945) in the using of the word “Allah,” Muslims and Christians did not have a problem with the use of the word. But Hindus strongly disagreed with the wording of the constitutional preambule, particularly the first principle of Pancasila and constitutional provision of Article 29 (1). Why?
Before Islam influenced Malay language, there were two words available for God in Malay: “Tuhan” and “Dewa.”
“Di dalam bahasa Melayu atau bahasa Indonesia; dua konsep atau nama yang berhubungan dengan “Ketuhanan”, yaitu: Tuhan sendiri dan Dewa. Penganut monoteisme biasanya menolak menggunakan kata Dewa di Indonesia, tetapi sebenarnya hal ini tidaklah berdasar. Sebab di Prasasti Trengganu, prasasti tertua di dalam bahasa Melayu yang ditulis menggunakan Huruf Arab (Huruf Jawi) menyebut “Sang Dewata Mulia Raya”. Bagaimanapun, pada masa kini, pengertian istilah Tuhan digunakan untuk merujuk Tuhan yang tunggal, sementara Dewa dianggap mengandung arti salah satu dari banyak tuhan sehingga cenderung mengacu kepada politeisme (Wikipedia).”
After Islam came, the development of Malay language and its relationship with Arabic language should be considered.
“By the 14th century, Islam spread into North Sumatra and Java and it became a dominant religion in North Java by the 15th century. With Islam, the Arabic language gained status and influence over the Old Malay. Many forms of writing such as legends, chronicles, religious treatises, legal documents and letters used standardized Malay, called the Classical Malay which evolved from the Old Malay through time and space (Pisith Phlong, About Malay).”
Arabic much influenced Malay, for example the Arabic word “Allah” taken by Malay to name God. The world “Allah” is used by Muslims and Christians who speak and write Malay and Bahasa Indonesia. In Indonesia “the word ‘Allah’ is used in Indonesian language version of the Bible, but the pronunciation is different from that used by Indonesian Muslims (Answers.com).” In other words, they write the same letters “Allah”, but speak it differently. Muslims prounounce it with thick “l”, but Christians pronounce it with thin “l”. This difference is unnoticed when it is written. That is the way Indonesian Muslims maintain their difference from fellow Christians. On the other hand, recently Malaysian Muslims would like to keep their difference from Christians both in writing and speech.
Indonesian Hindus use the word “Dewa” to call their gods. Therefore, in Indonesian context, according to the those participating in the constitutional debate (Muslims, Christians, Hindus), the Malay word “Tuhan” is more neutral than “Allah” and “Dewa.”
“On August 18 1945, the group that ratified the Constitution unanimously agreed that the term “Allah“ should be replaced by “Tuhan” (God), a more general term which was supported by the Hindus (Saafroedin Bahar et al 1992:305) (Answers.com). “
The wording they agreed reads “Ketuhanan Yang Maha Esa.”
Would Malaysian Christians have no objections to the first principle of the Rukun Negara being amended to read “Kepercayaan kepada Allah”?
Fathima Idris believes that Malaysian Christians would have no objections, if they sincerely use the word “Allah.” How about Hindus?
“Allah” in Bahasa Indonesia
Why is it acceptable in Indonesia for Christians to write “Allah”? The relationships between religion and state can help explaining how Indonesia runs policies on religion and the impact of the policies on the knowledge of other religions.
Media, a particularly national television is one of apparatus to educate and to some extent to control the knowledge of citizens which could reach a wide range of audiences.
Under the Constitution of Indonesia there is no provision stating any religion as an official religion. For many years (since the Indonesian New Order, if I am not wrong) the national television TVRI (Televisi Republik Indonesia) has a program called “Mimbar Agama” which facilitated five religions (Islam, Catholicism, Protestantism, Hinduism, and Buddhism) to conduct religious telecasts. In this program religious leaders and preachers from the five religions speak in monologues and dialogues about their respective religions. Recently, with the introduction of private and commercial TVs, the religious programmes for different religions existing in the country increase in a number and variety.
From these programmes, I and many other Muslims in Indonesia notice that our fellow Christians use the same word for “Allah” as we use, but they pronounce it differently from us. We Muslims pronounce the word with two “els” (A-ll-ah) clearly (it is called “tasydid” in the science of reading Quran or Tajwid) and we Muslims pronounce it with thick “el” (or called “lam jalalah” in Tajwid). Our fellow Christians pronounce or speak it with thin “el” and less clear two “els.”
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