KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 24 ― Putrajaya can end the “Allah” controversy by lifting the ban prohibiting Catholic newspaper The Herald from using the Arabic word for God, said Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders.
PKR vice-president N. Surendran pointed out that the Court of Appeal merely ruled last Monday that the Home Ministry had acted well within its powers when implementing the ban, after ruling the usage of the word “Allah” as not integral to the Christian faith.
“All the government has to do is to withdraw the restriction,” Surendran told The Malay Mail Online last week.
“The court is saying that the government restriction is valid. So, it’s all entirely in the hands of the BN (Barisan Nasional) government to withdraw the restriction. It doesn’t affect the decision. You don’t need an appeal to the Federal Court,” added the Padang Serai MP, who is also a lawyer.
Surendran pointed out that several ministers have said that Putrajaya’s 10-point solution - which allows the printing, importation and distribution of the “Al-Kitab”, the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Christian bible - should stand, despite the appellate court ruling.
“They cannot, on one hand, claim they hold the 10-point solution, but ban the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Herald. It’s inconsistent,” he said.
The Najib administration issued the 10-point solution shortly before the Sarawak state election in 2011 to end a Home Ministry blockade of shipments of Christian holy scriptures in the Malay language containing the word “Allah”.
The Cabinet, through Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala, stated in the resolution that the large Bumiputera Christian population in Sabah and Sarawak could use their holy books in the Malay, Indonesian, and indigenous languages.
Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Ongkili, the energy, green technology and water minister, said last Wednesday that the Court of Appeal’s verdict should, “in no way”, affect the 10-point solution.
Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup also reportedly said recently that the Cabinet has decided to stick to the 10-point solution.
Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and de facto law minister Nancy Shukri have said that the court ruling was restricted to the Herald.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also said previously that the ruling would not affect Sabah and Sarawak, while separately another Cabinet minister claimed that Christians from the Borneo states could also use the word in peninsula Malaysia.
They were silent, however, on whether the Herald ruling meant the publication could be distributed in Sabah and Sarawak.
Lawyers have pointed out the court had set a binding precedent, and it is unclear how the Cabinet came to its interpretation.
The country’s main non-Muslim faith umbrella group has also disputed the Cabinet’s interpretation of the Allah ruling, pointing out yesterday that the Court of Appeal had given the home minister “absolute power” in regulating religions other than Islam.
Despite Najib’s and other ministers’ assurances that the ruling did not affect other publications and usage of the word “Allah”, the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) thinks that the government is missing the significance of the “Allah” ruling against the Catholic newspaper the Herald.
The council’s president, Jagir Singh, said that the court had decided that the words “peace and harmony” in Article 3 of the Federal Constitution would mean to protect only Islam instead of allowing non-Muslims to practise their religions freely and without restriction.
Weighing in last week, PAS central committee member Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the “Allah” issue was not a religious issue, but one of governance.
He said that non-Muslims should be allowed to refer to God as “Allah”, so that religious authorities could easily monitor them and prevent attempts of proselytisation towards Muslims if they so occurred, as mandated in the Federal Constitution.
“If the issue is a governance issue, as provided for in Article 11(5) and Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution, that the usage must not bring about instability, or must not be used to proselytise, but if you ban them from using it, how would you ever be able to monitor them if it is going underground?” Dzulkefly told The Malay Mail Online.
“It’s better that you allow them. Then you have reason to monitor them, if ever they have the intention to proselytise,” added the Islamist party leader.
He said the Quran has made it clear that Muslims do not have a monopoly over the word “Allah”, and stressed that it was unjust to prevent non-Muslims from using the Arabic word, on the basis that they would attempt to convert Muslims with it.
“Where’s the evidence? Innocent until proven guilty is an Islamic legal maxim. A man cannot be prosecuted unless proven guilty,” said Dzulkefly.
The director of the PAS research centre, however, said that Christians must also acknowledge the fact that some evangelical churches are “very aggressive in converting Muslims”.
“There are Christian friends of mine who tell me they don’t deny there are aggressive evangelical groups,” said Dzulkefly.
“Let us have a national conversation, a national dialogue where we can understand the issue...enhance trust, and debunk all these prejudices, contempt, and distrust,” he added.
DAP publicity chief Tony Pua said that Putrajaya should not contest the Catholic Church’s appeal to the Federal Court and admit that it made a mistake in banning the Herald from using the word “Allah”.
“The solution is, unfortunately, with Putrajaya, since they created the unnecessary mess in the first place,” Pua told The Malay Mail Online.
The Petaling Jaya Utara MP added that Muslim groups and state Islamic leaders should “learn the history of ‘Allah’, cultivate the spirit of respect and tolerance, and protect the constitution which guarantees the freedom of religion”.
