SUBANG JAYA, Dec 25 — The pursuit of moderation and national harmony needs not result in winners or losers, a Christian group said today amid continued interfaith disputes in the country.

Reverend Dr Eu Hong Seng, the chairman of the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) that represents churches nationwide, also said in his Christmas message that both objectives cannot be achieved without cooperation from all groups.

“We don’t need to believe that a gain by one party must be matched by a loss by another side,” Eu said in his opening remarks at the high-tea organised by CFM in conjunction with Christmas today.

“More than ever we need to join hands and hearts if we are to move forward and excel,” he said.

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While noting mistrust and suspicion are natural in a diverse and complex society, he stressed on the need for mutual respect and cooperation among all races and religions.

He further noted that multiracial and multicultural Malaysia could not achieve its social and economic ambitions if it did not seek to involve all facets of its mixed society.

“No one party, no one religion, no one race or no one state can do it all,” said Eu. “It is neither folly nor weakness to focus on our shared objectives and to be charitable over our differences.”

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Racial and religious ties, particularly between Muslims and Christians, have been strained in recent years over the use of “Allah”, the Arabic word for God that the former group is claiming exclusivity over.

Simmering tension over the “Allah” tussle boiled over in January this year when the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and seized over 300 copies of Malay-and Iban-language bibles. The bibles were only return last month and stamped with a warning restricting distribution in Selangor.

The row dates back to a 2009 High Court ruling upholding the Catholic Church’s constitutional right to publish the word in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its Herald weekly, but has its roots in laws from the 1980s limiting the non-Muslim use of the Arabic term.

The Court of Appeal last year overturned the lower court’s ruling, and maintained that the Home Ministry was correct in barring the use of “Allah” in the Herald, during which it also ventured that the word was not integral to the Christian faith.

The Federal Court subsequently declined to hear an appeal by the Catholic Church, which is now seeking for the apex court to review its decision.

Muslims are Malaysia’s dominant religious group and account for over 60 per cent of the population, while Christians make up about 10 per cent or third-biggest religion in the country.