Allah jang Palsoe ([aˈlah ˈjaŋ palˈsu]; Perfected Spelling: Allah yang Palsu; Malay for The False God) is a 1919 stage drama from the Dutch East Indies that was written by the ethnic Chinese author Kwee Tek Hoay based on E. Phillips Oppenheim's short story "The False Gods".

Kwee Tek Hoay's first stage play, Allah jang Palsoe was written as a realist response to whimsical contemporary theatres.

Though the published stageplay sold poorly and the play was deemed difficult to perform, Allah jang Palsoe found success on the stage.

By 1930 it had been performed by various ethnic Chinese troupes to popular acclaim and pioneered a body of work by authors such as Lauw Giok Lan, Tio Ie Soei, and Tjoa Tjien Mo.

Kioe Lie, meanwhile, has become the manager of a tapioca factory, but is planning to leave for competing business run by Tjio Tam Bing, who has offered him twice the salary.

He is concerned, however, over the newspaper's new political orientation: the owner, Oeij Tjoan Siat, is aiming to make the paper pro-Dutch East Indies, a stance that Kioe Gie considers a betrayal to the ethnic Chinese.

Owing to poor investments (some made with embezzled money), Houw Nio's gambling, and Kioe Lie's keeping of a mistress, they have lost their fortune.

He learns that it belongs to Kioe Gie and Hap Nio, who have built up a vast farm, garden, and orchard that provide them with ample income.

[b][6] The six-act work was written in vernacular Malay, the lingua franca of the Indies, and was based on E. Phillips Oppenheim's short story "The False Gods".

[7] Though in his foreword Kwee Tek Hoay apologised for the quality of the stage play, writing that "the content and arrangement of this book are far from what you could call neat",[c][8] Sumardjo praises his language, feeling that the story flowed well.

[d][10] Kwee Tek Hoay heavily disapproved of such whimsy, considering it "better to say things as they are, than to create events out of nothing, which although perhaps more entertaining and satisfying to viewers or readers, are falsehoods and lies, going against the truth".

The Indonesian literary critic Sapardi Djoko Damono writes that such a message would have been popular among ethnic Chinese of the contemporary Indies, and as such the play would have been a favourite of social organisations.

[18] The Indonesian literary critic Jakob Sumardjo likewise notes money as the central issue of Allah jang Palsoe, writing that the play shows individuals doing anything to earn it—even sacrificing their values.

He writes that the corrupting nature of money remains present in the best of times,[17] and considers Kwee Tek Hoay's message to have been too heavily based in morality rather than considerations of social and human factors.

[19] John Kwee of the University of Auckland, citing Gie's departure from Kamadjoean, suggests that this was a challenge directed at the Chinese Malay press, then becoming increasingly commercial.

[23] This edition included a foreword from the author, four illustrations of recommended stage decor, a number of performance guidelines, and a brief outline of the state of the theatre among the ethnic Chinese.

[29] Another of Kwee Tek Hoay's stage dramas, Korbannja Kong-Ek, was inspired by a friend, who wrote him a letter asking for another comforting and educational play after reading Allah jang Palsoe.

Though not many were ultimately published, the body of work pioneered by Allah jang Palsoe included plays by Kwee Tek Hoay (Korbannja Kong-Ek, Mait Hidoep, Plesiran Hari Minggoe), Lauw Giok Lan (Pendidikan jang Kliroe), Tio Ie Soei (Jan Tio), and Tjoa Tjien Mo (Beng Lee Koen, Hsi Shih).