Cops frown over 'Allah' banner at Iban Christians do

A banner bearing the word ‘Allah’ was asked by police to be removed at a gathering of some 6,000 Iban Christians at the Borneo Convention Centre Kuching (BCCK) on Friday.
 
“The participants were surprised. We were embarrassed,” said Patrick Sibat organising secretary of the gathering which was put together by the Gempuru Besai Kristian Jaku Iban (GBKJI).

He added that they complied with the directive as it came, according to the police, ‘from the top’.

“It was even more embarrassing for us when observers from Christian natives groups from Australia, New Zealand, Solomon Islands, India, Mongolia and Taiwan witnessed the whole thing”, he said.
 
They were in Kuching at the invitation of the Gempuru Besai Kristian Jaku Iban for the three-day gathering which began last Thursday.
 
Representatives of various Christian denominations and all the ethnic tribes in Sarawak also took part.
 
“The incident created a very bad image and sent a wrong message to those who came from other parts of the world, especially when we talked of full religious freedom as guaranteed in the ‘special safeguards’ included in the 18-point Malaysia Agreement,” continued Patrick.
 
“On one hand the prime minister assures of religious freedom in Sarawak, and on the other the police came and asked us to bring down the banner because it has the word ‘Allah’.
 
However, despite the police ‘advice’, they put up the banner again the next day further away from the main road, which was supposed to be the police's point of contention, he said.
 
The Court of Appeal in October had ruled that the word Allah could not be used by the Catholic Church weekly, The Herald, as ‘Allah’ was not integral to the practice of the Christian faith and that the use of the word would also confuse the Muslims.
 
The ruling caused alarm and confusion among the Christians in Sarawak and Sabah, so much so that Najib and other federal leaders had to give their assurances that the ruling did not apply to the two states.

Full religious freedom 

Meanwhile, in their five-point declaration, the GBKJI reminded Kuala Lumpur to honour its promise for full religious freedom made to the Iban in discussions with members of the Cobbold Commission of Inquiry for the formation of Malaysia more than 50 years ago.
 
“When the federation of Malaysia was proposed in 1961, our forefathers initially expressed grave reservations on various issues relating to the well-being of our people under Malaysian rule, including freedom of religion,” the GBKJI said in a statement.
 
“The final decision to support the formation of Malaysia by the Iban tribe was made based heavily on the agreed ‘special safeguards’ or ’18-point agreement’ accorded to the people of Sarawak and contained in the Malaysia Agreement and the federal constitution,” it added.
 
About 75 percent of the Iban in 1962 agreed to Sarawak joining Malaya, Sabah and Singapore for the formation of Malaysia based on the ‘special safeguards’, according to the statement.
 
The Christian Iban form about 52.6 percent of the total Christian population in the State, according to the 2010 population census.
 
They first embraced Christianity 122 years ago at the time of James Brooke.
 
Meanwhile, the three-day gathering ended with a mass Sunday service at the BCCK with more than 9,000 Christians in attendance.