MCCBCHST wants ‘Allah’ stand spelt out clearly

The council would like to see the governments' assurance that recent Appeals Court ruling on 'Allah' usage is restricted to Catholic weekly, the Herald, be made clear in the decision.

PETALING JAYA: Despite assurances given by ministers, Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) is not convinced that the Appeal’s Court ruling is limited only to the Catholic weekly, The Herald.

“How can one say that the Government has nothing to do with the decision  as it was the government that had filed the appeal?” MCCBCHST president Jagir Singh asked, responding to Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Nancy Shukri’s statement, yesterday.

Nancy was quoted as saying that the government had played no role in the judgment barring Catholic weekly, the Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia version of its publication.

“The government has nothing to do with the outcome of that decision,” said Nancy, who is also law minister, when asked to comment on concerns by certain quarters who view that the Appeal Courts’ decision was a blanket ruling against usage of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Mus­lims.

Deputy Home Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar was also reported to have said that the ruling is meant for the weekly publication of the Herald only and would not affect other Christian publications or the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bible, the Al-Kitab, used widely in Sabah and Sarawak.

Jagir Singh stressed that if the ministers really meant what they said, then the law must be amended to reflect this and the decision made by the Appeals Court should be changed to reflect this restriction.

He also disagreed with the court ruling of interpreting that Article 3 of the Constitution has to be protected.

“Article 3 states that Islam is the religion of the federation but practitioners of other faiths are allowed to practice their own faiths, whereas Article 11 provides for freedom to practice the faith of their own choice.

“The Appeal Court’s decision to apply Article 3(1) to Article 11(1) is clearly not allowed. Article 3(4) which states nothing in Article 3 derogates from any other provision of this constitution,” he said, in relation to the ruling made on the ‘Allah’ case delivered on Monday .

Judges Apandi Ali, Zawawi Salleh and Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim unanimously ruled that ‘Allah’ cannot be used by Catholic weekly, the Herald because ‘Allah’ is not an integral part of the Christian faith.

The judges cited that allowing usage of ‘Allah’ would cause confusion amongst Muslims and Christians and had the potential to disrupt public order and safety.

They also said that Article 3 of the Constitution states – Islam as the religion of the federation needs to be protected from threats.