‘Allah ruling betrayed Malaysia Agreement’

A senior lawyer and Sarawak PKR chairman claims the Court of Appeal had ignored historical facts which pre-date Malaysia and religious freedom enshrined in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement.

KUCHING: The Court of Appeal’s decision to overturn a High Court ruling allowing Christians to use the term ‘Allah’ in the Bahasa Malaysia version of The Herald publication has left a “bitter taste” among the Christians in Sarawak.

Describing the decision as a “betrayal” against the 1963 Malaysia Agreement and the spirit of their forefathers, Baru Bian, a senior lawyer here, said the verdict was “an illogical and preposterous decision”.

“It ignored the historical facts which pre-date Malaysia and the rights to religious freedom of our people under the Malaysia Agreement 1963’.

“In the Cobbold Commission Report, mention is made of the Muruts (now called the Lun Bawangs). It states ‘a large proportion of the Muruts in Sarawak are fervent Evangelical Christians and emphasis was laid on the importance not only of freedom of worship but of freedom to propagate their faith.’

“I believe this was also true of many other Christian denominations then as reflected in the said report.

“As was pointed out by Archbishop Bolly Lapok last week, the rights of Sarawakians and Sabahans were promised protection in the Government Paper ‘Malaysia and Sarawak’, dated Jan 4, 1962 which states:

‘Although Malaysia would have Islam as the official religion of the enlarged Federation, there would be no hindrance placed on the practice of other religions. Complete freedom of religion would be guaranteed in the Federal Constitution’.

“This decision of the Court of Appeal as such is a betrayal of the undertaking given to our forefathers when they agreed to join in the formation of Malaysia,” said Bian.

He said the people of Sarawak were “very close to, if they have not yet reached the sour end of that sugarcane” as mentioned by the late Temenggong Jugah anak Barieng during negotiations for the formation of Malaysia.

“Today, not only is the end of the sugarcane sour, it also leaves a bitter taste in our mouths,” said Bian, who is Ba Kelalan assemblyman.

In his statement, Bian went on to add that the use of the word ‘Allah’ is an intrinsic part of the practice of Christians and disallowing the use of ‘Allah’ is clearly a fundamental breach of our constitutional rights.

“I am aware that this decision is against The Herald magazine, but in our legal system it is now a legal precedent for any similar case anywhere in Malaysia,” he added.

‘Criminalised practice of Christianity’
He added that notwithstanding what has been decided by the court, Christians in Sabah and Sarawak will continue to use the word in exercise of their rights.

He said while the court showed great concern that the Muslims might be confused by the use of the word ‘Allah’ by Christians, it had no similar concern that the Christians might be confused by the ban on the word, which they had been using for eons.

“By this decision, the court has criminalised the practice of the Christians of Malaysia, and has opened up the way for persecution of Christians by the ultra Muslims whilst a cowed and silent government watches passively.

“It appears that we are on the road to Ketuanan Islam in Malaysia.

“I wish to also point out that by this irrational decision, Malaysia has become the only country in the Muslim world which purports to claim ownership and copyright of a word.

“Indonesia, which has the biggest Muslim population in the world, and the Muslim countries of the Middle East do not have any issue with their Christian citizens’ use of the word ‘Allah’.

“What message is this decision sending to these countries?” he asked.

He also urged Christian BN politicians to speak out against the judgment.

“I am glad that James Masing has spoken out against the judgment and I hope all other Christian BN ministers, assemblymen and women and parliamentarians will follow suit,” Bian said.