One country, two interpretations of Allah – it’s awkward, say critics

“Why do we have one country with two interpretations of the use of the word Allah?” Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing (pic) asked this when commenting on the Cabinet decision yesterday that the Court of Appeal ruling, which banned the word Allah in the Catholic weekly, Herald, does not apply to Sabah and Sarawak.

“I'm not comfortable with this interpretation. The assurance by the Cabinet that Sabah and Sarawak can use the word Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia or native language bibles, and other religious publications and in worship, but not in West Malaysia, is not satisfactory,” Masing told The Malaysian Insider, adding that he still thinks that the court ruling is faulty. “It means one nation with two religious definitions of what is acceptable. I feel awkward."

Masing, who is the president of Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS), also said the assurance given by the Cabinet “looks like political expediency” and would create more problems than it would solve.

“OK in Sabah and Sarawak, but not OK in the peninsula. How am I going to pray if I am in the peninsula?” he asked.

On Monday, a three-man Court of Appeal bench reversed a High Court ruling allowing the Bahasa Malaysia section of the Herald to use the word Allah. It reasoned that the word was not an integral part of the Christian faith and practice. Two Cabinet ministers from Sabah – Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, a Minister in the Prime Minister's Department, and the Minister of Energy, Green Technology and Water Datuk Seri Dr Maximus Ongkili – insisted that the ruling only applied to the Herald and not the Al-Kitab and other religious publications used in Sabah and Sarawak.

In 2010, in order to counter religious issues raised by the opposition during the campaign in the Sibu by-election, the Cabinet drew up a 10-point solution which allowed the word Allah to be used in the Al-Kitab. Thousands of the bibles, imported from Indonesia and seized by the Customs Department, were also ordered to be released.

Meanwhile, lawyer S. Selvarajah, who was part of the legal team representing the Catholic Church at the hearing, said the court decision was binding on the publisher of the Herald, prohibiting the word Allah in future publications. He said the ruling drove home the point that national security and public order would be threatened if non-Muslims used the word.

"Further, there will be confusion in society and the Muslims must be protected from religious threats from non-Muslims," he said.

However, he doubted Putrajaya would act on Al-Kitab having the word as it was a pledge made in the 10-point solution.

"To do that will be tantamount to Putrajaya going back on its word," he said.

Selvarajah there would be a big backlash and this could erode support for the ruling government.

Another lawyer for the Catholic Church, Annou Xavier, told Malaysiakini that the government cannot simply decide that Christians in Sabah and Sarawak are allowed to use Allah, as the court's judgment had already found no basis for such use.

He pointed out that this is evident as Judge Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali had said in his judgment that the word is "not integral" to the Christian faith.

“The Court of Appeal did not deal with the Herald or the Publications and Printing Presses Act, but was a very wide judgment which goes beyond the Herald,” he told Malaysiakini.

“In his judgment Justice Apandi said his ‘quick research’ found that the word Allah is not part of the faith and practices of Christianity.

“So it is not for (ministers) Joseph Kurup or Wan Junaidi (Tuanku Jaafar) to say, 'It's okay, because that is peninsula and nothing to do with Sabah and Sarawak, or that this is the Herald and not about the al-Kitab’,” he added.