Allah hardliners DIGGING IN: Govt must act against those who ridicule Court decision

KUALA LUMPUR — The government should censure those who misuse freedom of speech to dispute the Court of Appeal’s ruling on the ‘Allah’ issue, the editors of Malay-language daily Berita Harian (BH) said today.

When backing Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail’s warning against those who risk being in contempt of court for disputing the decision, BH’s editors noted that the integrity of the country’s legal system and judiciary were at stake.

“It is hoped that the government, especially the Attorney-General’s Chambers, do not only issue warnings, but instead take stern action on anyone, including politicians and religious leaders who dispute the court decision.

“Only this approach can guarantee the upholding of laws and give a lesson to these parties to think before issuing statements in contempt of court,” the editors wrote in a piece titled “Bertindak tegas jika pertikai kes mahkamah” (Act sternly if court case is disputed), without elaborating on the “stern action” it wished to see.

In the same editorial piece, Berita Harian said that there is “no reason” for anyone to dispute the Court of Appeal’s decision last week, which effectively bars the Catholic Church from using the word “Allah” in its weekly Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section that caters to Bumiputera Christians.

“Unfortunately, the reverse has happened and there are quarters who use the reason of freedom of speech to dispute the court decision by issuing sensitive statements that can threaten racial harmony and freedom of religion,” the paper’s editors wrote.

The editors said that “extraordinary” statements made since the High Court’s 2009 landmark ruling in the same case gave the impression that Malaysia no longer had a legal system, citing accusations that the judiciary was biased and that the executive branch of the government had allegedly influenced the judiciary.

“Even more unfortunate when the court decision became political material and was openly debated.

“We worry that the upholding of laws and Constitution will become the bahan uji kaji (the subject of study) of some parties purely to achieve personal interests without any care for public rights. If this continues, the upholding of the laws that we practise will be affected,” it said.

The paper stressed that it respected the court’s decision as it was aware that religious issues are “very sensitive” and easily arouse emotions, particularly in a society with diverse race and religions.

“Therefore, we should accept the court’s decision and respect the meaning of freedom as set in the Constitution. We don’t want the people to be victims to those who misuse democracy to dispute the country’s judiciary,” it said.

In a news report featured in BH today, Abdul Gani was reported advising the public from making comments on the Herald case that could amount to contempt of court, while Selangor mufti Datuk Tamyes Abd Wahid reportedly said that those who continue to dispute the Court of Appeal’s ruling should face contempt of court proceedings.

Prof Tan Sri Abdul Shukor Husin, the National Fatwa Council’s chairman, was also quoted saying: “It is dikhuatiri (feared) that a continue dispute will affect the public peace in this country.”

A week after the Court of Appeal’s decision on the “Allah” issue, a debate on its impact on the rights of the Christian community and other religious minorities continues to rage on.

The Court of Appeal had adjudged that the use of the word “Allah” was not integral to the Christian faith and it would have caused confusion in the Muslim community, with critics such as civil rights lawyer Nizam Bashir saying that such a judgment reinforces the “misconception” that the word is for the exclusive use of Muslims.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak moved to reassure the Christians in East Malaysia that they will be able to continue using the word “Allah” in their religious practice.

“Recently when the Appeals Court made its decision on the use of the word Allah, it did not at all touch on the practices of Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, in fact the 10-Point Agreement is still being maintained,” Najib said, pointing to Putrajaya’s 10-point solution in 2011 that allowed Christians to publish, import and distribute Malay-language bibles containing the Arabic word.

But even as ministers Tan Sri Joseph Kurup and Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi yesterday said that the Court of Appeal ruling was restricted to the Catholic Church’s Herald weekly, lawyers and non-Muslims remain unconvinced that the decision would not have a wide-ranging impact on non-Muslims.

Civil liberties lawyer Syahredzan Johan has said it is “inaccurate” to represent the ruling as being limited only to the Herald or to non-Muslims in peninsular Malaysia, saying that it would create a precedent for a future ban on non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”.

“What the Court of Appeal has essentially done is to create a precedent in which the word ‘Allah’ may be banned on the basis that that it causes confusion,” Syahredzan told The Malay Mail Online via email.

Yesterday, the Herald’s editor said the lack of clarity in Putrajaya’s interpretation of the Court of Appeal’s judgment on the “Allah” issue is only adding to the growing confusion surrounding the use of the word by non-Muslims nationwide.

The Court of Appeal ruling casts doubt over how the judiciary will rule on two similar court cases over the word “Allah”: one is by Sidang Injil Borneo (Borneo Evangelical Church) Sabah, who is suing the Home Ministry for confiscating its Malay-language Christian education publications, which contain the word “Allah”, in 2007.

The other is over the 2008 government seizure of audio CDs, which bear the word “Allah”, that belong to Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, a Sarawakian Christian. Both cases have been put on the backburner the past few years pending the disposal of the Catholic Church’s case.