Barisan using Islam for selfish political gains, says DAP

Barisan Nasional is destroying the country’s religious harmony by irresponsibly and deviously exploiting Islam for selfish political gains, said DAP's Lim Guan Eng (pic).

The party’s secretary-general said Putrajaya was doing this by allowing the word Allah to be used by Christians in East Malaysia in worship and the Bahasa Malaysia bible, the Al-Kitab, but not here in the peninsula.

Lim was commenting on an earlier statement by the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup who said there was no restriction on the use of the word Allah among Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.

Kurup and Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili, who is the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water, had insisted that the Court of Appeal had only banned the use of the word in the Bahasa Malaysia section of the Catholic weekly, Herald.

Lim questioned if Sabahans and Sarawakians working in the peninsula were also banned from using the word Allah.

"Are they permitted or banned from using Allah in Kuala Lumpur or Johor Baru?

“Clearly this Cabinet decision shows that the Home Ministry’s decision to ban the use of the word Allah in the Herald, is not based on protecting the sanctity of Islam.

"Instead it is a naked attempt to directly infringe on the rights of the non-Muslims' freedom of religion so that Umno can score political points with Muslims and Malays.”

Lim said permitting the word Allah to be used only in Sabah and Sarawak was a defensive electoral strategy designed to protect BN’s political interests, as there are fewer Malays and Muslims in both the states.

He said if the BN were really bothered about religious harmony or religious values, they would have taken steps to combat corruption.

Yet, Lim said corruption in Malaysia had deteriorated to such a level that Malaysia was declared a “world champion of corruption”.

Lim pointed out that international Muslim commentators have also condemned the ban of the word Allah for Christians and non-Muslims.

He cited Indonesian daily Jakarta Post which said there was no monopoly on the use of the word Allah, as well as an editorial in the United Arab Emirates's The National, which condemned the Court of Appeal's decision as wrong. The paper argued that the word Allah is free to be used by non-Muslims in the Arab world.

The Court of Appeal's ruling made news in other countries. In several editorial pieces, it was pointed out that use of the word Allah was not exclusive to Islam.

British broadcaster BBC News in its commentary said that the ban was seen as Umno’s efforts to boost its Islamic credentials and win back support from the majority Malays.