With ‘Allah’ ruling, Malaysia might never have been, Kit Siang suggests: KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 17 — A court ruling rendering “Allah” exclusive to Muslims may have prevented the formation of Malaysia had such religious curbs existed when the country was being conceived, DAPs Lim Kit Siang suggested today. Pointing out how the Court of Appeals judgment barring the use of the Arabic word to non-Muslims came less than a month after the country celebrated its 50th birthday, the DAP parliamentary asked if September 16 would still have been a day of celebration had the ruling existed then. “Given the importance of the freedom of religion to the peoples of Sabah and Sarawak, would there have been widespread support for the formation of the Federation of Malaysia if the Court of Appeal ‘Allah’ judgment was the law of the land?” the Gelang Patah MP wrote in a statement today. “The first point of the 18-point Sarawak agreement and the 20-point Sabah (then North Borneo) agreement emphasised the freedom of religion that must be enjoyed by Sarawak and Sabah as minimum demands for the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.” Lim further pointed that the Malaysian members of Cobbold Commission, Ghazali Shafie and Wong Pow Nee, both agreed that while Islam would be the national religion for the Federation, they were ‘satisfied that the proposal in no way jeopardises freedom of religion in the Federation, which in effect would be secular’. On Monday, the Court of Appeal ruled against a 2009 High Court decision allowing the Catholic Church to refer to the Christian god with the Arabic word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its weekly paper, the Herald. The court adjudged the usage of the word “Allah” as not integral to the Christian faith and said that allowing such an application would cause confusion in the Muslim community. The 2009 High Court ruling, which found that the word “Allah” was not exclusive to Muslims, had sparked a string of attacks like arson and vandalism against non-Muslim places of worship, including Christian churches and Sikh temples. The Catholic Church has said that it will make an appeal to the Federal Court, the country’s highest court. Today, Lim further asked if Malaysias founding fathers would have stood for the Home Ministrys arbitrary decision to prevent the Catholic Church from using Arabic word. “Or would they have recognised that such an action was a direct contravention of Article 11 of the Federal Constitution which protects the freedom of religion not only in Sabah and Sarawak but also the whole of Malaysia?” Ahead of the judgment on Monday, Borneo churches pointed out that a ban on non-Muslim use of “Allah” was a breach of the Malaysia Agreement that is the basis of the countrys existence. “This is abhorrent, wholly unacceptable and a flagrant betrayal of the Malaysia Agreement which guarantees the inalienable rights of non-Muslims in Sarawak and Sabah to religious freedom,” the Association of Churches in Sarawak and the Sabah Council of Churches said in a joint statement last Friday. “The Bumiputera church will continue to use the Bahasa Malaysia Alkitab, together with the word ‘Allah’, both of which are fundamental to all aspects of the profession and practice of the Christian faith,” they added. The church groups also stressed that the 10-point agreement issued by the Najib administration in 2011 allows the printing, importation and distribution of the Alkitab, the Malay-language bible, which contain the word “Allah”. “We would reiterate that Sabah and Sarawak consented to form Malaysia in 1963 with Islam as the religion of the federation on the express condition that there will be complete freedom of religion without any hindrance placed on other religions,” they said. East Malaysia has largely escaped the brunt of the controversy over the “Allah” issue, save for a prohibition on the shipment of the AlKitab to the states that was eventually rescinded ahead of the Sarawak state election in 2011. Although government and Islamic authorities insist the “Allah” ban would be limited to peninsular Malaysia where Malay-Muslims are the dominant community, there exists concern that such a restriction would eventually apply to all of the country. dlvr.it/48Yrst
Posted on: Thu, 17 Oct 2013 08:37:42 +0000
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