VIDEOS INSERTED KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim has called for calm following a national uproar caused by a controversial court decision that banned non-Muslims from using the word Allah in their worship materials.
He slammed Prime Minister Najib Razak for his silence at a time when the noise level between irate non-Muslim and Muslim groups was rising and threatening to further destabilize the country's patchy interracial and interfaith relations.
The 66-year-old Anwar also reiterated his Pakatan Rakyat coalition's stand that Allah could be used by non-Muslims to describe God so long as they did not abuse or misuse the word. He offered to hold talks with Najib and keep the people apprised so as to prevent public unrest and suspicion from spreading.
"The prime minister doesn't seek to be around when it comes to all these controversial issues. I think this reflects on the issue of poor leadership. The country is now on autopilot," Anwar told a press conference on Thursday.
Anwar had been asked on whether the 60-year-old Najib had sought to explain or seek the views of the Opposition over the fiery issue that many experts have warned can lead to violence, as well as drive up calls in the Eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak for secession from the Malaysian federation.
Anwar: M'sia Allah ban contradicts the views of Muslim world's top clerics
Against the views of many leading clerics in the Muslim world
Anwar also said the decision by the Malaysian court contradicted the views of leading clerics and experts in the Muslim World, with many newspapers in the Middle East issuing stinging editorials.
The Jakarta Post is among the latest to warn against the Malaysian move, expressing concern that it might give hardliners in Indonesia - home to the world's largest Muslim population - another excuse to agitate for greater fundamentalism and exclusivity from the global community.
"A lot of people have expressed concern, given editorials in the Middle East, surprisingly the papers in Dubai, Qatar have expressed caution. The general consensus here is to call for calm, reasoned discourse on the subject, not to condemn those who differ with the stated views in the court decision as alluded to by the Mufti (chief cleric) of Johor," Anwar said.
He was referring to the flurry of reactions from groups linked to Najib's Umno party that sought to condemn those who opposed the court's ruling. One of these, the Mufti or Chief Cleric of Johor, had declared that all those who opposed the decision keep Allah exclusive to Muslims were infidels. If so, that would include Sheikh Qaradawi, one of the Muslim Brotherhood's top intellectuals, Anwar pointed out.
"How to continue with that, what is the position of Sheik Qaradawi who happens to the chairperson of the World Islamic or Ulama Council. What did he say, he said Allah is the God for the Muslims, Christians, Arabs, Persians and in the first verse of the Quran, Allah is the lord of the universe, lord of mankind, lord of the world. So it is very difficult for us to deny. That is his view, we respect his view even those who differ should not condemn. So I think that is the consensus here (at Pakatan) - at least have reasons, don't exploit with such rancorous exchange that does not benefit us at all," he said.
The Malaysian Appeals Court had on Monday ruled that a Home Ministry ban on Catholic magazine, the Herald, forbidding it from using the word Allah in its Malay-language publication, was valid.
The judgement was however sprawling and many legal experts in Malaysia including the lawyers for the Catholic Church have warned the ban was now not specific to the Herald but applicable to all Christian publications and worship material. They said the Appeals Court had effectively rendered the word Allah exclusive to Muslims. The 3-member panel of judges were all Malay Muslims.
The Catholic Church has said it plans to appeal the decision and if leave is granted, then the Federal Court will be the next to hear the case which was first stirred up in 2007 after the Herald was given a warning by the Home Ministry not to publish an editorial on Anwar, who was then about to leave the academia to rejoin active politics in Malaysia.
Allah ban: Anwar reiterates Pakatan's stand, calls for calm & talks with Najib
Emotional Malay-Muslim groups greet Allah ban with wails of God is Great
Malaysia Chronicle
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