Ahead of ‘Allah’ ruling, Perkasa urges Muslims not to ‘act wildly’

PUTRAJAYA, Oct 14 — At a rally before the court ruling on the “Allah” appeal, Malay rights group Perkasa advised attendant Muslims against “acting wildly” in response to the impending judgment.

Perkasa chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali also told the some 200 Muslims gathered outside the Palace of Justice that Christians were not their adversaries and to respect the Court of Appeal decision on whether Christians could refer to their god as “Allah”.

“I want to stress that we are not enemies with anyone, much less the Christians,” said Ibrahim.

“There is freedom of religion in the Federal Constitution, but in the constitution, the faith (akidah) of Muslims cannot be twisted,” he added.

The Court of Appeal later ruled unanimously against allowing the Catholic Church to use the word “Allah” in its weekly publication the Herald, saying that the government did not impugn on the Church’s constitutional rights in banning the use of the Arabic word.

The appellate court found that the word “Allah” is not an integral part of the Christian faith.

Justice Datuk Seri Mohamed Apandi Ali, who read out a summary of the judgment, said the home minister had acted well within his powers to disallow the Herald from using the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The Muslims gathered outside the court, many of whom were carrying placards like “Allah is the absolute right of Muslims”, shouted “Allahu Akhbar” (God is great), upon learning of the verdict.

The Allah case returned to the courts last September, over three years after Putrajaya filed an appeal against the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision in favour of allowing Catholic weekly the Herald to continue using the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The Catholic Church had in July this year moved to strike out the government’s appeal after patience ran out with the lack of progress in the government’s challenge on the decision that has contributed to festering interfaith ties in the country.

The Allah row erupted in 2008 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the Herald’s newspaper permit, prompting the Catholic Church to sue the government for violating its Constitutional rights.

The 2009 High Court decision, which upheld the Catholic Church’s constitutional right to use the word “Allah” in the Herald, had led to a string of attacks against houses of worship, including the firebombing of a church.