1. Taiwan News (http://www.etaiwannews.com)
Malaysia hearings start in Catholic "Allah" fight, 14 December 2009
Associated Press
Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church urged a court Monday to let Christians use "Allah" as a translation for God and overturn a government ban that has become a symbol of religious grievances in Muslim-majority Malaysia.
The High Court began hearing legal arguments in the dispute, which began in late 2007 after the government blocked non-Muslims from translating God as "Allah" in their literature, saying it would confuse Muslims.
Authorities have insisted that Allah should be used exclusively by Muslims to refer to God, and its use by other religions would be misleading.
The ban mainly affects the Malay-language edition of the Catholic Church's main publication in Malaysia, The Herald, which is read mostly by indigenous tribes who converted to Christianity decades ago.
"Our position has been made clear to the court," The Herald's editor, the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, told The Associated Press. "The main thing is we've been using this word ... for a long time, for centuries."
The Church's lawyers told the court the ban was unconstitutional.
In recent years, authorities have seized some Malay-language Bibles that used "Allah."
Nearly 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims. One-third are ethnic Chinese or Indians, most of whom practice Buddhism, Christianity or Hinduism.
The minorities have often complained that their constitutional right to practice religion freely has come under threat from the Muslim-dominated government, which denies any discrimination. Other disputes in recent years have involved the demolition of Hindu temples illegally built on state-owned land.
2. The Malaysian Insider (http://www.themalaysiainsider.com)
Banning Christians from using the word ‘Allah’ unconstitutional,court told, 14 December 2009
by Debra Chong
The Catholic Church finally had its day in open court to defend its right to the use of the word “Allah”. Months of legal arguments in the judges chambers and frequent disruptions by major Muslim groups had held back today's proceedings from happening sooner.
The High Court here was told this morning that a federal government ban on using the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God is unconstitutional.
Counsel for the Catholic Church, which publishes a weekly paper called Herald, argued that the Home Minister had gone against the Federal Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, when he introduced new conditions banning the use of the word “Allah” to mean any God other than the Muslim God.
Under section 12 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Home Minister, who has full discretion in issuing a publishing licence and may place certain conditions to prevent abuse, had overstepped his power.
The team of five lawyers, led by Porres Royan, highlighted that the Federal Constitution protects the fundamental rights of religious minorities in Malaysia to carry out their worship freely.
In Article 3(1) of the Federal Constititution, Islam is acknowledged to be the official religion of the country, but at the same time, other religions can be practised in peace and harmony, said Porres.
The senior lawyer added that other parts of the Federal Constitution support the law equally, namely Article 11(3)(a) which states that every religion has the right to manage its own affairs, Article 10(1)(a) which guarantees freedom of speech and Article 8(1) which notes that every citizen is equal in the eyes of the law and entitled to equal protection under law.
Porres also noted that Christianity pre-dates Islam and made references to several early English-Malay versions of the Bible, including one by renowned Malay scholar Munsyi Abdullah who in 1852 filled in the word for God in the Christian sense as “Allah”.
Porres said several states had passed a law to “control or restrict the propagation of any religious doctrine among persons professing the religion of Islam” but had been misread to “criminalise” the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims.
“Even if section 9 is valid, the use of the word 'Allah' by one non-Muslim or by a person professing a non-Islamic religion to another cannot by any stretch of the imagination amount to the propagation of a religious belief or doctrine among persons professing the religion of Islam,” he said.
“In the case of the Herald, Herald is a propagation of the Catholic Church meant for Christians and is not meant for persons professing the religion of Islam. In fact, the second condition imposed by the minister, that is endorsing the word 'Terhad' and that only distribution is in churches.
“It must mean there is no propagation among persons professing Islam,” the lawyer stressed.
The Home Minister's decision seems to turn guidelines for getting a publishing permit into a rule by which it may shut down and shut out bodies which publish dissenting views.
Influential Muslim groups, such as the state Islamic councils for the Federal Territory, Selangor and Penang among four others and the Chinese-Muslim association, which had been kicked out of the fight between the Herald and the Home Minister by the High Court previously, returned today in another bid to stop the suit.
They put in a fresh application to intervene before High Court judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan in her chambers this morning, which delayed the hearing from taking place in open court for almost two hours.
According to the church's counsel, the judge said she would reserve judgment on the Muslim groups for later.
Hearing will resume with submissions from senior federal counsel for the Home Minister after the lunch break.
Comments (3)
by 500 years too late, December 14, 2009
Christian has been using the word Allah 500 years earlier than Muslim.
And here comes the new religion to claim it all ..... talk about plagiarism .....
Either they're historically blind or plainly blind at all .....
by Philip, December 14, 2009
What the heck's wrong with some Muslims in this country?
This "Allah" issue is a non-starter in nearly every other Muslim country with any kind of international stature. A notable exception of course is Saudi Arabia which is dominated by the intolerant Wahabbis.
I've met Arab visitors who are actually flabbergasted at how extremely the EXTERNAL appearances of their religion are being practiced here.
Frankly, it's not truly a religious issue at all. It's more of a political pantomine with the powers-that-be playing to the lunatic gallery, and the lunatics trying to show the "kafir" who's boss in this country. Even when actually nobody's trying to boss it over them.
by Anon C, December 14, 2009
If the cristians cannot accept the term "Tuhan" to refer to "God", we should all change references to Tuhan as "Alllah" including our rukun negara to "Kepercayaan kepada Allah". All non-muslims must believe in "Allah". In fact since we're all in Malaysia, the bible in English should also change the word "God" to "Allah" since the christians have accepted the fact that "allah is widely used in the south east asia.
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