KUALA LUMPUR, June 25 — Christians are deliberately sowing the seeds of chaos in Malaysia with their resolve to keep using “Allah” despite losing a legal challenge against a government ban, Muslim groups alleged.
According to these groups, Christians should not jeopardise the country’s existing peace and harmony, and must stop challenging the law with their “stubbornness”.
“We ask the churches to think of the future. We have to prioritise national interests: national unity and harmony,” Abdullah Zaik Abd Rahman of Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) told The Malay Mail Online.
The president of the Islamist group also claimed that harmony and unity can only be achieved by acceptance rather than antagonising each other.
The Muslim groups also accused the churches of disputing Islam’s position as stated in the Federal Constitution in order to fulfil their demands.
“If they deliberately go against the ruling, they are deliberately trying to cause chaos… We have laws to ensure peace. If we can’t respect the laws, we are heading towards disharmony,” said Selangor Perkasa chief Abu Bakar Yahya.
Abu Bakar also accused the “stubborn Christians” of violating the Rukunegara, the National Principles, which among others prescribe obedience to laws and sovereignty of the Constitution.
A seven-member bench at the country’s highest court decided by a 4-to-3 majority on Monday to deny the Catholic Church the right to appeal a lower court decision preventing it from using the word “Allah”.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) subsequently said Christians still have the right to refer to God as “Allah” in their bibles and church services as the Federal Court ruling should be limited to the Catholic Church weekly, the Herald.
CFM, an umbrella body representing churches nationwide, said it would hold Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail and Putrajaya accountable for a statement by the top lawyer on October 20, 2013 that the Court of Appeal’s decision to uphold the government ban on the Arabic word “Allah” in the Herald was confined to the weekly.
The Muslim groups believe, however, that the ruling meant a blanket prohibition on the Christian use of “Allah”.
“I cannot believe that the priests can be so stubborn. Because usually, I have always heard stories that Christian religious figures have such kind hearts,” said chairman of Muslim NGO Pembela Mohamed Hafiz Mohd Nordin.
“This shows that they do not practise what they preach. They are willing to break the country’s laws,” he added, claiming that as holy men, Christian priests are supposed to obey the law and respect court decisions.
Hafiz also accused Christian priests of “picking a fight” with Muslims by challenging the government’s ban in court.
“If Allah is really their god, they should have just kept quiet and worshipped him ... If they had carried their worship quietly, we wouldn’t have known,” Hafiz told The Malay Mail Online.
“For me, when they took this to court, they did it just to hurt the feelings of Muslims. All this while, what did the Muslims do to hurt them? They were the ones who trespassed on our rights, not us.”
The Catholic Church initially won a High Court decision in 2009 upholding its constitutional right to use “Allah” in its Herald newsletter, after it filed a challenge against a 2007 Home Ministry ban.
Last year, the Court of Appeal overturned the decision and ruled that “Allah” was not integral to the Christian faith and that the home minister was justified in banning the Herald from using the Arabic word on grounds of national security and public order.
Putrajaya on Monday sought to allay concerns over the effects of the Federal Court’s decision, insisting that it did not impinge on Christians’ right to use “Allah” in churches.
Christians make up about 10 per cent of the Malaysian population of 30 million.
Almost two-thirds of the Christians are Bumiputera and live in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, which include describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.
