1．Malaysiakini (http://www.malaysiakini.com)
Case management on 'Allah' ruling appeal on April 25, 14 March 2013
by Bernama
The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya has fixed April 25 for further case management on the appeal by the government and Home Ministry against a 2010 High Court decision that the word ‘Allah’ can be used by the Catholic weekly newspaper Herald.
Court of Appeal deputy registrar Muhammed Zaki Abdul Kudos fixed the new case management date to enable the respondent, the Kuala Lumpur Catholic Church, to file further affidavits.
The matter came up before Muhammed Zaki in chambers today.
Muhammed Zaki has also fixed May 8 for the Court of Appeal to hear the appeals brought by seven parties, including six Islamic religious councils and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association, against a High Court ruling in rejecting their application to become intervenors in the church’s judicial review application at the High Court.
The Islamic religious councils are from the states of Terengganu, Selangor, Kedah, Johor, Wilayah Persekutuan and Malacca.
The appeal has been fixed for case management for the first time since the High Court ruling on Dec 31, 2009. It was earlier scheduled for case management on Feb 28 but the date was vacated to today.
Appearing for the government and Home Ministry were a team of senior federal counsel led by Arik Sanusi Yeop Johari.
The Islamic religious councils and Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association were represented by a team of lawyers led by Abdul Rahim Sinwan, while the church is represented by lawyer S Selvarajah.
In her ruling, High Court judge Lau Bee Lan declared that the decision by the home minister prohibiting Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia publication, which specially caters to the people in Sabah and Sarawak, was illegal, null and void.
The suit was filed by the Catholic Church led by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam on Feb 16, 2009, naming the Home Ministry and the government as respondents in the judicial review application.
They sought, among others, a declaration that the decision by the Home Ministry on Jan 7, 2009, prohibiting the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Herald was illegal and that the word ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to the religion of Islam.
The weekly, published in four languages, has been using the word ‘Allah’ as a translation for ‘God’ in its Malay language section, but the government argued that ‘Allah’ should be used exclusively by Muslims only.
- Bernama
2．Malaysian Insider（http://www.themalaysianinsider.com）
(1) News without context is noise: The ‘Allah’ confusion, 24 February 2013
by Bob Teoh
FEB 24 — One of the ten golden rules of journalism is context. News without context is just noise. The swirling “Allah” confusion is a case in point.
It was Penang Chief Minister and DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng who started the noise by making a call in his 2012 Christmas message for the Alkitab or Malay language bible to be freely available. The backlash was so swift and fast that he quickly qualified it as meaning only for Sabah and Sarawak. This is a ludicrous proposition ― one country two bibles. LGE is both out of depth and out of context.
Independent MP Ibrahim Ali, who is also head of the right wing Perkasa, wanted to burn bibles. He too back-tracked saying he meant only the Alkitab and not the English one. What’s the difference? He too is out of context and more dangerously, he’s out of his mind.
The context is that the Alkitab was banned 32 years ago five months by Dr Mahathir Mohamad under the now defunct Internal Security Act on grounds that it is a threat to national security. This is also a ludicrous posture. The ban was subsequently modified to allow the Alkitab to be used only in churches and sold in designated premises. The ban otherwise remains in force today under a replacement legislation.
Activist lawyer Baru Bian, who is PKR Assemblyman for Ba’ Kelalan said the basis for arguing whether non-Muslims can use the word “Allah” to refer to God must rest on its context, etymology (or the historical development of the word), and the relevant laws surrounding it.
Ten per cent or slightly over two million of the population in Malaysia are Christians. Of this, about two thirds are Malay speaking Bumiputera Christians mainly in Sabah and Sarawak. They rely on the Malay language or Indonesian bible known as the Alkitab which uses the word “Allah” to refer to God.
The first portion of Christian Scriptures translated into Malay was done in Indonesia for the Gospel of Matthew in 1612, four hundred years ago! This was one year after the authorised version of the bible was translated into English known as the King James Version (KJV). The Malay translation was also the first non-European language translation of the bible.
Baru argued that East Malaysian Christians have been using “Allah” to refer to God for generations. This has never been a problem before or after the formation of Malaysia in 1963. Why should this cause confusion now after half a century?
Three years ago on December 31, 2009, that the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled in favour of the Catholic, which is the publisher of Herald, that even though Islam is the religion of the Federation, this does not empower the government to prohibit the use of the word “Allah” in the Malay edition of the Herald. This judgement is now under appeal but it remains law until and unless the decision is reversed by a higher court of law.
Since 1980, various state Islamic enactments and fatwas were put in place and one of which is to prohibit non-Muslims from using Arabic words such as “Allah”. But these are seemingly unenforceable on non-Muslims under the Federal Constitution.
In summary, the context, etymology and the law clearly allow non-Muslims to use the word “Allah” to mean God. But Islamists contend that the word “Allah” is exclusively sacred to Muslims and non-Muslims should not profane it. Now that we get the context, let’s leave the noise out, please. — mysinchew.com
・This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
(2) Eight in 10 Malays say ‘Allah’ only for Muslims, poll shows, 26 February 2013
by Debra Chong, Assistant News Editor
‘Allah’ in Malay-language bibles in Sabah and Sarawak had been in use for centuries.KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 26 – A whopping 83 per cent of Malay voters insist that only Muslims have the absolute right to call their god “Allah”, a poll released today showed.
Independent pollster Merdeka Center, which surveyed 1,021 voters in Peninsular Malaysia at the end of January, reported today that most of the Malay voters – which formed 59 per cent of the survey group – say only Muslims are entitled to use the Arabic word for god, contrary to a 2009 High Court judgment that ruled otherwise.
A significant 34 per cent of the Malay voters were also reported to back federal lawmaker Datuk Ibrahim Ali’s call last year, for Muslims to torch Malay-language copies of the Christian holy book that describes the Christian god as “Allah”.
The founder and president of Perkasa, a right-wing Malay group, had sparked a potential faith crisis in December in response to DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng who urged Putrajaya to lift a ban on Malay-language bibles in Sabah and Sarawak, where the “Allah” word had been in use for centuries.
The firestorm subsided somewhat after church leaders chose to turn a deaf ear to Ibrahim’s provocative remarks.
The “Allah” dispute first arose in the early 1980s when the home ministry, then under the Mahathir administration, first banned Malay-language bibles shipped in from Indonesia.
Muslim and religious leaders of other miniority faiths here have been at loggerheads over use of “Allah” following the 2009 landmark High Court judgment awarding the Catholic Church the right to publish the word in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its weekly newspaper, Herald, catering to its large Bumiputera Christian following in Sarawak and Sabah.
Muslims are Malaysia’s biggest religious group at 60 per cent, while the minority Christians, who form just under 10 per cent of the 28 million total population, have been at the forefront of issues confronting the non-Muslim community, which are provided for under the country’s Constitution.
A Sabah church group has also alleged that the religious freedom of Christian Bumiputeras was under attack, pointing out that most adherents of the faith in Malaysia came from east Malaysia and used the Malay language.
The Sikhs too have said their original holy texts, including the Sikh Holy Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji, contain the word “Allah”.
A Buddhist group has urged the National Unity and Integration Department, which is under the purview of the Prime Minister’s Department, to resolve the drawn-out dispute over the usage of “Allah”.
The Malaysian Islamic Development Department also upset church leaders with its Friday sermon in the past in which it warned Muslims nationwide of “enemies of Islam” that would try to confuse them into believing that all religions share the same god.
Retired Attorney-General Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman has urged the authorities to speed up action against Ibrahim over his Bible-burning threat, saying any further delay in acting against the veteran politician could be held against the establishment ahead of Election 2013.
(3) Majoriti masyarakat Melayu kata ‘Allah’ hanya untuk Islam, lapor kaji selidik, 26 Februari 2013
Oleh Md Izwan
KUALA LUMPUR, 26 Feb — Majoriti responden masyarakat Melayu dalam kaji selidik oleh badan bebas Merdeka Center bertegas kalimah "Allah" hanya khusus untuk digunakan oleh Muslim, lapor hasil kajian yang terkini dikeluarkan kepada media hari ini.
Daripada tinjauan keatas 1,021 orang pengundi yang ditemui atau dihubungi Merdeka Center mendapati sebanyak 83 peratus berkata kalimah suci tersebut milik penganut beragama Islam, ia sama sekali berbeza dengan keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi pada 2009 yang membuat keputusan sebaliknya.
Walaubagaimanapun, hasil kajian oleh badan penyelidik tersebut mendapati bukan semua penganut Muslim-Melayu bersetuju dengan gesaan Presiden Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) Datuk Ibrahim Ali supaya membakar Injil yang mengandungi kalimah "Allah", hanya 34 peratus bersetuju tetapi 52 peratus yang lain menolak dengan keras seruan tersebut.
Kemelut perebutan kalimah "Allah" kali pertama timbul sekitar awal tahun 1980an apabila kementerian dalam negeri dibawah pentadbiran Dr Mahathir ketika itu mengambil langkah untuk mengharamkan penghantaran kitab Injil berbahasa Melayu daripada Indonesia ke dalam negara.
Kemuncak isu tentang kalimah "Allah" kembali diperkatakan semula selepas sambutan Perayaan Hari Natal tahun lalu, apabila penganut Kristian meminta Putrajaya untuk membenarkan kalimah suci tersebut digunakan dalam kitab Injil berbahasa Melayu tetapi kumpulan kedua berhujah penggunaannya perlu eksklusif kepada mereka atas alasan bahawa Islam adalah monoteistik dan perkataan "Allah" bermaksud tuhan kepada orang Islam.
Isu kalimah "Allah" tersebut berlanjutan dan terkini yang menjadi kontroversi adalah ugutan oleh Presiden Perkasa Datuk Ibrahim yang menggesa umat Islam untuk membakar kitab Injil berbahasa Melayu sehinggakan mengundang pelbagai kritikan daripada pemimpin politik Barisan Nasional dan juga Pakatan Rakyat, aktivis serta pengamal undang-undang.
Malahan, Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) juga mengambil langkah yang tidak disenangi oleh penganut agama tersebut apabila mengeluarkan teks rasmi khutbah Jumaat yang menegaskan kalimah "Allah" tidak terdapat dalam Injil mahupun Taurat, serta mengingatkan umat Islam supaya menolak tuntutan penganut Kristian yang mahu menggunakan perkataan Arab itu di dalam kitab mereka.
Selain itu, keputusan Mahkamah Tinggi pada Disember 2009 mengatakan perkataan "Allah" tidak terhad kepada orang Islam dan Gereja Katolik mempunyai hak untuk menerbitkan perkataan dalam seksyen bahasa Melayu akhbar mingguan itu, Herald.
Penghantaran Alkitab, kitab Injil dalam bahasa Melayu kepada Bumiputera Kristian yang menggunakan Bahasa Melayu telah disekat atau dirampas di pelabuhan, sebelum kerajaan akhirnya tunduk kepada tekanan dan membebaskannya pada tahun 2011.
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