KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 21 — Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi insisted today that the ban on “Allah” only applies to the Herald, the Catholic weekly publication and does not extend to other Christian publications.

His remarks today come even though there are two cases pending in the courts in relation to his ministry’s seizure of bibles and CDs that contained the word.

He said the Court of Appeal’s ruling last week was to “take care of the sensitivity of other religions”.

“In the ruling by the Court of Appeal, it only gave the ruling for the usage of the word in the Herald, [but] in the Bible, the word ‘Allah’ can still be used.

“The Home Ministry’s appeal is specifically targeted at the Herald.

“We do not ban any development and the practice of other religions but they have to know that the Court of Appeal’s decision should be respected, if they are not satisfied with the decision, you can bring it up to the Federal Court,” he told reporters at the Parliament lobby.

When pressed further if he thinks that non-Muslims in general can use the word “Allah” either during masses as well as in publications, he said:

“I think the verdict imposed by the Court of Appeal, is in particular focusing on the case brought up by the Herald, so the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak think they are given the freedom to implement or use Allah in their publication,” he said.

This is despite the fact that the Home Ministry confiscated eight compact discs bearing the word “Allah” on May 11, 2008 from Sarawakian Christian Jill Ireland at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) airport in Sepang, prompting the Bumiputera Christian to challenge its decisions in court.

Although the High Court granted Ireland leave for judicial review in May 4, 2009, the hearing for the legal challenge has yet to start.

The ruling also casts doubt over how the judiciary will rule on a similar court case brought by Sidang Injil Borneo (Borneo Evangelical Church) Sabah, who is suing the Home Ministry for confiscating its Malay-language Christian education publications, which contain the word “Allah”, in 2007.

Both the SIB Sabah case and Jill Ireland’s case were put on the backburner in recent years pending the disposal of the Catholic Church’s case.

Today, the home minister seemed to suggest that the Herald was targeted when other Christians are allowed to use the Middle Eastern word, because it “might mislead other followers”.

“They should understand it is not so much about not allowing other publications or other associations for that matter, this appeal made by the Minister of Home Affairs is due to the effect, not only to Islam but it might mislead other followers, in this case I think the verdict by the Court of Appeal should be respected,” the former defence minister said.

These three cases involving Jill Ireland, Sabah SIB and the Herald’s publisher have cast a spotlight on the rights of religious minorities in the country, especially Bumiputera Christians.

Christians are the third-largest religious group in Malaysia at 2.6 million, according to statistics from the 2010 consensus, behind Muslims and Buddhists.

Bumiputera Christians are said to number around 1.6 million and have been using the word “Allah” in the national language and their native tongues for centuries for the practice of their religion.