'Allah ruling does affect Sabah, Sarawak Christians'

Despite government assurances, the Advocates Association of Sarawak has insisted that the Court of Appeal judgment on the use of the word 'Allah' by a Christian publication will affect Sabah and Sarawak.

Its president Khairil Azmi Mohamad Hasbie said this is because the government's assurance is not an "actual legal position" as the judgment does not differentiate between Christians in the peninsula and in Sabah and Sarawak.

"The common finding of the Court of Appeal that the name 'Allah' is not an integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity, and that such usage if allowed will inevitably cause confusion within the community, is not stated to be confined to the Christian community only in peninsula Malaysia...

"(The) sssociation is of the view that it may be interpreted to apply throughout Malaysia," he said in a statement.

Further, he said, the association is concerned that Sabah's and Sarawak's freedom of religion, as agreed upon in the formation of Malaysia, was not brought to the court's attention.

As such, he said, the association will be holding a watching brief inThe Herald's appeal on the matter at the Federal Court. 

The federal government had claimed that the decision does not affect Sabah and Sarawak Christians and is only confined to the use of the word 'Allah' in the Christian weekly The Herald, which is party to the suit.

The Sarawak lawyers' position match that of the Bar Council's which said that the court had taken an "unnatural reading" of the federal constitution, when it said that the word cannot be used by non-Muslims to protect the sanctity of Islam.

Bar Council president Christopher Leong (left) in a statement had said that the decision undermines the religious freedoms guaranteed in the charter.

The Muslim Lawyers Association, however, responded by saying that the Bar Council, as a secular organisation, should not get involved in the matter as it is sensitive to its many Muslim members.