KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — A stark contrast from the scene 35 kilometres away, a small group of people held up placards today with messages such as “God is one” and “We are brothers and sisters” in the centre of a shopping mall, and handed out purple balloons and flowers. All smiles, with no shouting at all.
The two groups, though with very different agendas, were expecting the Federal Court’s decision on whether the Catholic Church has grounds to appeal the Court of Appeal’s ruling, which overturned a High Court ruling from 2009 allowing the Catholic paper, Herald, to use the word “Allah” as a constitutional right.
“We want to provide a counterpoint to the nasty faces outside the court.
“They can muscle 12 buses of people but we can’t, we’re sick of the ugliness and the hatred,” said Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, as she held a purple balloon and a placard that read, “We all answer to Allah”.
The eldest daughter of former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad is part of the Malaysians for Malaysia that has been organising the walks in the park in KL, Penang, and Klang. A walk is planned to take place in Ipoh later this week.
Marina told The Malay Mail Online that the fight over the word “Allah” is “silly” as the issue would not end whichever way the country’s highest court decided.
“It has absolutely no bearing and it is silly that we are arguing over this. We have far better things to do,” she said.
Earlier this morning, hundreds of people from conservative Muslim groups gathered outside Malaysia’s Federal Court building in Putrajaya, protesting a bid by the Catholic Church to overturn a court ruling that the word ‘Allah’ can be used by Muslims only.
The crowd of roughly a thousand people was mostly clad in red, the colour of the right wing group Perkasa which is leading the protest.
Some within the group called out threats that non-Muslims would suffer the consequences if they threatened Islam, while others took to race baiting.
“Lynch that Chinese!” some shouted, as a member of COMANGO, a coalition of progressive NGOs tried to enter the court building.
At the suburban Bangsar Village mall here, a passer-by, who only wanted to be known as Ari, said he was glad and felt at ease to see a counterpoint to the action outside the federal courthouse.
“Some people are becoming fanatic, I feel sorry for the future generation,” said Ari, 71, without specifically naming any group.
