Prelate: Stop indoctrination of Malays on 'Allah' issue

Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and several Muslim organisations have been urged to take positive steps to stop the indoctrination of the Malay community towards divisive radicalism over the ‘Allah’ issue.

Archbishop Murphy Pakiam (right), who is president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, also hopes that thousands of Malay brothers and sisters who had benefitted from the education offered in missionary schools to also support the Christian community to peacefully use ‘Allah’.

He said the Court of Appeal judgment against The Herald last week raised serious concerns to many Malaysians, especially the Christians.

“As president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia, I hereby state that that the three judges were grossly misinformed when concluding that the word ‘Allah’ was “not the essential or integral part of the religion of Christianity”. 

He said the first Article of faith in the Catholic Creed and for all Christians is that “they believe in one god,  the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth”. 

As such any Christian who denies or modifies the statement of faith would be considered a heretic. 

“It is to be noted that for centuries the Bahasa Malaysia translation and the Arabic equivalent of the one god, is the sacred word ‘Allah’, which the Christians have been using peacefully. 

“Hence, to conclude that the word ‘Allah’ is not essential to the Christian faith would be a grave denial of the fundamental right of the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christian community to use this word in prayer, worship services, prayer books, the Al-Kitab and other publications. This would be tantamount to signalling a form of persecution,” Murphy warned.

Last Monday, the Court of Appeal in upholding the Home Ministry’s ban over the use of ‘Allah’ in The Herald, had ruled the word is not an integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity. 

‘We do not accept judges’ statement’

There are thousands of Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians from Sabah and Sarawak in the peninsula, said Murphy, and some are studying in institutions of higher learning, serving in the armed forces and the police, are civil servants or working in the private sector. 

He said many reside with their families here. 

“Already more than half of our parish churches and chapels in the peninsula conduct at least one worship service or catechism lesson weekly in Bahasa Malaysia. 

“As committed religious leaders, we have to ensure that we respectfully minister to them in the national language. For this reason then, we do not accept the statement of these judges and stand in solidarity with other church leaders who have also emphatically voiced their objection.”

Murphy said they are heartened that other religious leaders and organisations have echoed similar sentiments and hopes all people of goodwill will allow them to continue to use ‘Allah’.

“We continue to pray that God will bless and enlighten all Malaysians to accept one another in unity and diversity,” he said.

The Catholic church, which publishes The Herald, has indicated they will appeal the appellate court decision.