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Malaysia bans Ultraman comic book over use of the word “Allah”

Mar 8, 2014 8:48 am By Robert Spencer

3498233-ultraman5Ultraman is banned, at least for this issue, because he is apparently referred to as “Allah.” That is strange, and hard to believe that in today’s political climate anyone, anywhere in the world, would think it could be done without repercussions, but in any case, apparently this will “confuse Muslim children and damage their faith.” That faith is evidently so weak and malleable that those children will readily accept the idea that a comic book superhero is their god.

As absurd as that is, this story is not absurd, for it is yet another salvo in Islam’s war on the freedom of speech and expression, a war that they are winning due to the failure of the people who should be defending the freedom of speech to put up any kind of fight.

“Malaysia bans Ultraman book over use of Allah,” from the Associated Press, March 6:

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) – Malaysia has banned an Ultraman comic book because it uses the word “Allah” to describe the Japanese action hero.

The Home Ministry said in a statement Friday that the Malay-edition of “Ultraman, The Ultra Power” contained elements that can undermine public security and societal morals.

It said “Ultraman is idolized by many children” and equating the lead character, Ultraman King, with Allah would especially “confuse Muslim children and damage their faith.”

Allah, the Arabic word for God, is commonly used in the Malay language to refer to God.

The government says Allah should be exclusively reserved for Muslims because of concerns its use by others would confuse Muslims and tempt them to convert. Malay Muslims account for about 60 percent of Malaysia’s 30 million people, while Christians makeup about 9 percent of the country’s population.

The ministry said Allah is holy for Muslims and warned that such irresponsible use of the word can provoke the community and threaten public safety.

Ultraman is a fictional Japanese superhero who fights monsters and first appeared on television in the 1960s. A line in the book said Ultraman “is considered and respected as Allah, or the Elder, to all ultra heroes.”

“The Ultraman character itself is not banned and only this edition is prohibited,” the ministry said. Anyone caught distributing the book could be jailed three years, it warned.

The government’s stand over the word Allah has sparked a controversy in this multi-racial Southeast Asian country, where many Malay-speaking Christians commonly use Allah to refer to God.

Religious tensions have been high in the past five years after the Catholic church went to court to seek the right to use Allah in its weekly newspaper.

A lower court last year ruled in favor of the government, which the Catholic church has appealed to the country’s highest court. The Federal Court said Wednesday it will decide at a later date whether to hear the case.

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Filed Under: free speech, Malaysia Tagged With: featured


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Comments

  1. bernie says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 9:09 am

    I recall reading a long time ago, that Saudi Arabia banned the Japanese “Picachu” character because the theme song supposedly sounded like it was saying, “Be a Jew.” Has anyone at JW also heard this story?

  2. mortimer says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 9:30 am

    Malaise? Yeah. The ‘malaise’ is Islam, an obscurantist, anti-rational, cult of death threats and supremacism. Not only do they want to control what may be said, but the WAY it is said. That means making about a dozen words UNPRONOUNCEABLE if you are a kafir, thereby making it impossible for kafirs to discuss Islam in public. The absence of the POSSIBILITY of criticism opens the door to real abuse of minorities, human rights violations and violent oppression.

  3. Angemon says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 9:40 am

    “The government says Allah should be exclusively reserved for Muslims because of concerns its use by others would confuse Muslims and tempt them to convert. ”

    That’s a really, really dumb excuse. What, muslims would convert to another religion because a comic uses the word allah to refer to god? C’mon, this is not 7th century Mecca, which was when muhammad claimed Allat, al-‘Uzza and Manat were goddesses who helped allah just to get the meccans to convert to islam.

    Actually, now i’m curious to know if Dragon Ball was ever released in Malaysia. You know, with Kami being God, and Piccolo being God’s evil side, and with other gods superior to Kami popping up later in the series.

    • Jay Boo says

      Mar 8, 2014 at 12:44 pm

      You bring up some good points, however these Muslims seem to understand their own religion than us JW’s.
      “Ultraman is a fictional Japanese superhero who fights monsters”
      Allah of Islam is a fictional Middle-Eastern character who permits Muslims to act like monsters.

  4. chris says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 9:47 am

    Funny thing is..after thus allah and ultraman issue…A malaysian B777 travelling from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing was lost today…probably crashed at sea.
    This issue will drag down the dumb goverment of mine.
    Is this a coincidence?

  5. bernie says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 9:48 am

    I think in Spanish, “ala” means “wing” (the wing of a bird or a plane, for example. Also, Spanish speakers also say “Ojala que…” (“God willing that…”), and the expression “!Ole!” is also derived from “Allah.” So, are some Muslims going to start demanding that only Islamic Spanish-speakers be allowed to use those words?

    • Angemon says

      Mar 8, 2014 at 12:07 pm

      Yeah, ala means wing, but it comes from the Latin, not from the arabic. ¡Ojalá! comes from the arabic inshallah (god willing) but nowadays it just means “I/Let’s hope so” (if there are any native spaniards reading this, can you confirm/deny this?). I’m not sure from where ¡Olé! derives from though.

      • Ron Crawford says

        Mar 10, 2014 at 11:49 am

        Given the antiquity of bull fighting (originally dancing), I wouldn’t be surprised if “Olé” has its origins in Phoenician.

  6. London Jim says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 10:44 am

    Maybe Ultraman can counter the naysayers with John 1:12

  7. St. Michael Defend Us says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 11:33 am

    Norse, Greek, and Roman mythology has been around and well-known for a LONG time, and the word “god” is used. Even children are not confused. How dumb ARE muslims?

  8. southeuropean says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 11:53 am

    That scumback Mohamed claimed that Jesua-Jesus name was Isa and that Jesus was not divine and miracle maker. Someone should sue the Mohamedans for this insult…And this is reciprocity.

  9. Jay Boo says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 12:55 pm

    Ultraman is banned, at least for this issue
    Imagine sexy Wonder Woman were to be presented as Allah of Islam

    Pres. Obama would insist that the publishers and the nation of Japan apologize .
    There would be daily Islamist riots.

  10. duh_swami says

    Mar 8, 2014 at 1:43 pm

    I don’t read comic books. I made an exception and read the Quran, but there was nothing comical in it. Well, I was a little amused by the ‘Green Man’ story, but that was it. Otherwise, it’s just another dark and evil fairy tale.

    • southeuropean says

      Mar 8, 2014 at 2:58 pm

      Have u noticed the part where the ants were chating between each other?:)

      • Salah says

        Mar 9, 2014 at 1:03 am

        You mean Qur’an 27:18?
        Till, when they came to the valley of the ants, one of the ants said: “O ants! Enter your dwellings, lest Sulaimân (Solomon) and his hosts crush you, while they perceive not.”

        Who said there’s no fun in Islam?

        http://crossmuslims.blogspot.com/2011/09/stoned-by-monkeys.html

        • Ron Crawford says

          Mar 10, 2014 at 11:51 am

          Old Moe should have laid off the whacky weed. Or maybe the illiterate goat-breeder thought Aesop’s fables were documentaries.

  11. Guy Macher says

    Mar 9, 2014 at 5:42 pm

    In my neck of the woods “All-a” comes out of the back end of cattle, especially after the first grass of spring.

  12. gravenimage says

    Mar 12, 2014 at 6:41 am

    What are the chances that the word “Allah” is actually being used in the Ultraman comic at all?

    What a bunch of paranoid tools!

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