At last MCA says it: Allah DOESN'T belong to just the Muslims, Herald MUST APPEAL

I concur that an appeal should be filed against the Court of Appeal’s (CoA) ruling which had found in favour of the Home Ministry to ban the The Herald from publishing the word “Allah” in their weekly newsletter.

I comprehend the outrage of the Christian community against the CoA’s judgement because the ruling had completely ignored Orang Asli and Bumiputera Christians whose primary language is Bahasa Malaysia.

The original intention of Article 3 of the Federal Constitution was to give non-Muslims the right to practise their faith freely without restriction. We should therefore respect this initial intention of this Article.

As pointed out by the Association of Churches Sarawak and the Sabah Council of Churches, there are more than 1.6 million Christians in these two states who use “Allah”, and yet, our country has still always maintained peace and harmony.

“Allah” is NOT the monopoly of any religion or ethnic group. Christians in Arab countries and the Middle East use “Allah” freely. ”

The CoA’s decision will have some bearing at the domestic and international levels on the issue of religion in Malaysia.

Meanwhile, we should keep calm over the judgement, and to continue this struggle by appealing to the Federal Court.

While we respect the decision of the CoA, nevertheless, we also agree with the Christian community to not give up their struggle in the usage of the word as the Federal Constitution protects religious freedom; more so when our founding fathers have set the foundation for one. No one leader should give up.

Loh Seng Kok
Member of MCA Central Committee,
Member of MCA Presidential Council,
Deputy Chairman of MCA Publicity Bureau