An interfaith council has urged Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and the cabinet to protect the rights of all Malaysians in line with the Federal Constitution.
The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism, and Taoism (MCCBCHST) in a statement also urged the government to declare as unconstitutional existing state laws that impose a blanket ban on the use of words such as “Allah” by non-Muslims - even without the element of propagation.
“The MCCBCHST notes that the prime minister is to submit a cabinet proposal on the ‘Allah’ issue to the Conference of Rulers.
“Thus, this is an opportune time to look at Section 9 of the state enactments,” said the council.
The council’s statement was issued in response to Anwar’s statement on Wednesday that his government will be sticking to the status quo regarding non-Muslims’ use of the word “Allah”.
Anwar had said the cabinet “respects, acknowledges, and adheres” to the state enactments and the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s decree on Feb 7 that called for existing policy on the use of the word “Allah” to be maintained.
The umbrella body for major non-Muslim religions said Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution will only allow state governments to prohibit the usage of words by non-Muslims when there is propagation of religious beliefs to Muslims.
“Therefore, there has to be ‘propagation of any religious doctrine’ to Muslims to come within the ambit of prohibition.
“Mere usage of words without propagation to Muslims cannot come within the ambit of Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution,” said MCCBCHST.
“In view of the above, the mere use of words for own learning without any propagation to Muslims cannot come within the scope of Article 11(4).
“This prima facie would mean that Section 9 of state enactments which bans certain words even when there is no propagation involved will be unconstitutional and is beyond the power given by Article 11(4),” the group argued.
MCCBCHST noted that most states in Malaysia have made state laws or enactments under Article 11(4) to prohibit non-Muslims from using between 20 to 40 words, particularly under Section 9 of the respective state laws.
The MCCBCHST statement was jointly signed by its president Jagir Singh, deputy president Dao Zhang Tan Hoe Chieow, vice-president Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim, vice-president Venerable Chuan Yuan, and vice-president Ganesh Babu Rao. - Mkini
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