IN a landmark ruling on Dec. 31, 2009, the Kuala Lumpur High Court lifted the Malaysian Home Minister’s ban against the Catholic Church publishing the word “Allah” to refer to God in its weekly paper, the Herald.
Counsel for the Herald, Porres Royan, told reporters, “The court has granted the declaration that the applicant has the Constitutional right to use the word Allah. I believe the ministry is bound by the court’s decision.”
Royan’s fellow lawyer for the church, Benjamin Dawson, explained the impact of the judgment in greater detail to The Malaysian Insider.
“There are two points to today’s order. Firstly, the court set aside the decision of the minister in imposing the prohibition on using the word ‘Allah’ in Herald.
“The second part of the order made by the court declares the width and breadth of the constitutional provisions, namely Articles 3, 11 and 12 and ruled that in light of these constitutional guarantees, the minister had acted unconstitutionally in imposing such conditions,” Dawson said.
Article 3 of the Federal Constitution states that Islam is the official religion of the country but taken together with Articles 11 and 12, protects the rights of the minorities to be free to practice and be educated in their respective religions.
In short, the Herald does not need to go to court every year to fight for the right to publish the word “Allah”. The publishing permit for the Herald expired Dec. 31.
Senior Federal counsel Datuk Kamaludin Mohd Said said, “I was made to understand the ministry has already issued the permit for 2010.”
The government had said that the ban was necessary to avoid confusing the majority Muslims in the country. Islam is the official religion in Malaysia.
But the church claimed the ban violates its constitutional rights to practice its religion freely.
According to Father Lawrence Andrew who edits Herald, the term “Allah” has been used by Christians in the region to refer to their God since 400 years ago.
He added that it is still actively used today.
Lawrence explained that “Allah”, in the Christian context, refers specifically to “God the Father”, which is different from how Muslims use it.
Herald’s editor claims the use of the word has not died out and is still being used in church worship among indigenous peoples in Sabah and Sarawak, who form a substantial number of the Christian faithful in the country.
According to the last census last carried out in Sarawak three years ago, 43 per cent of its population is Christian. In Sabah, the figure is close to 2.45 million, based on the state’s last census in 2000.
But Fr Lawrence (photo) believes the official figures may not be accurate. He thinks the number of Christians in East Malaysia is higher, especially in Sarawak.
The church first took the government to court last year after the home ministry threatened to revoke its annual publishing permit for Herald, Malaysia’s only Catholic paper.
It was forced to refresh its suit again this year after its 2008 permit expired without any decision from the court.
“We’re grateful for the court’s decision. At the same time, we’re disappointed with the lack of political will on the part of the government to deal with issues of this nature,” Dawson told The Malaysian Insider.
“In recent years, people from minority religions were forced to go to court to protect their constitutional rights,” he pointed out, listing several religious conversion and burial tussles, such as the Lina Joy, Subashini, Shamala and Moorthy cases as examples.
“How do we promote religious unity in our country?” he quizzed. “Surely not by going to court.”
Dawson pressed the government to set up an inter-faith commission to resolve inter-religious disputes.
“We can’t continue to live at odds with each other,” Dawson stressed.
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Sat, Jan 2, 2010
News & Views, People