Allah ban applies to all Christians in Malaysia, say constitutional lawyers

Malaysian Christians attend a mass in a church. Legal experts say the Court of Appeal ruling recently means Christians nationwide cannot use the word Allah in their worship. - The Malaysian Insider pic, October 22, 2013.The Allah issue has become a story of contradictions. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his Cabinet colleagues now say the word Allah is only banned in the Catholic weekly, the Herald, and Christians are free to use the word in their worship, wherever they are in Malaysia.

However, constitutional lawyers have told The Malaysian Insider that the Court of Appeal ruling last week was a blanket ban of the word, which affects all Christians in Malaysia.

Lawyer Fahri Azzat also noted that the court decision has caused confusion.

“Firstly we have to distinguish if the statements were made from a political perspective. It is not true that it is not binding on Sarawak and Sabah because, if anybody takes up the case in East Malaysia, the Home Minister can actually ban the word Allah there too.

“This is not done at the moment, but if anyone challenges it, it will apply,” he told The Malaysian Insider in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.

Counsel Edmund Bon pointed out the court had ruled that Allah was banned in the Herald because the word was not an integral part of Christians in their worship.

"That simply means that the ruling covers all Christians," said Bon.

Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism president Jagir Singh, who is also a lawyer, questioned how the country can have two laws on this issue.

“This is absolutely not right because we can only have one law which applies across the country," he said.

Jagir also said the ruling had wide implications as it had given the home minister absolute power in the matter and that the court cannot question or review the decision.

“In Herald’s case, no evidence was adduced at all to show that the newspaper was used to propagate Christianity to Muslims. In fact, evidence produced showed it was only meant for Christians,” he said.

“The court’s refusal to see whether the home minister was fair or just, means he now has a free hand in regulating other religions.”

Jagir said the danger now was that the home minister may regulate fundamental liberties, including the freedom of religion on the basis that some people would be confused or it is contrary to public order and the court would sit idly and not enquire into its legality, fairness or justice.

The only remedy now for the Catholic Church and non-Muslims was to appeal to the Federal Court or to Parliament, the lawyers said.

Najib broke a week-long silence on the raging issue yesterday when he told an audience in Sabah that East Malaysians were free to use the word in their worship and guaranteed that Putrajaya would stand by its 10-point solution which allowed the word to be used in Sabah and Sarawak.

Minister in charge of national unity Tan Sri Joseph Kurup had gone a step further yesterday when he said that Allah was only banned in the Herald and could be used by even Christians in Peninsular Malaysia in their weekend masses.

Earlier, former attorney general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman had insisted that all Malaysians were bound by the Court of Appeal ruling on the Allah issue.

He had also expressed surprise at Putrajaya's stand that the controversial judgment did not affect Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.

"It has the effect of a binding precedent and all have to respect that decision, whether you agree or disagree," he had told The Malaysian Insider, adding it was binding until set aside by the country's highest court, the Federal Court.