Malaysiakini.com（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
Bar Council faces lawsuit for using 'Allah', 20 March 2009
The religious authorities have threatened to sue the Bar Council for using the word "Allah" in an online survey on its website, in another row over the issue to hit the country.
The Islamic religious council in Selangor said it would take action against the country's top legal body, which represents some 12,000 lawyers, for using the word as a translation for "God" in two online polls on its website.
Its comments came amid a long-running battle between the government and a Roman Catholic newspaper which has been threatened with closure for using the disputed word in its Malay-language edition.
The government has argued that the word should be used only by Muslims, who dominate the population of multicultural Malaysia.
Exclusive right on use of 'Allah'
The Bar Council's polls asked lawyers to vote on whether any particular race in Malaysia had an exclusive right to use "Allah" and whether non-Muslim religious publications should be allowed to use the word.
"The issue raised in the polls can threaten the sensitivity of Muslims," the head of the religious council Mohamad Adzib Mohamad Isa said in a statement.
He said it was empowered under religious laws to lay charges against anyone misusing the word "Allah".
The Bar Council said it would defend its use of the word.
"I haven't receive a (legal) notice yet, we are prepared to challenge it," its chairperson Ragunath Kesavan told AFP.
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