1.Malaysiakini（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
(1）Bumi churches hit back at anti-Christian campaign, 2 May 2013
by Bob Teoh
Stung by the incendiary anti-Christian campaign in the run-up to polling day, bumiputera churches in Sabah and Sarawak are hitting back with unprecedented vigour.
A "pastoral communiqué" on the 'Allah' issue has been hammered out to be circulated on Friday, just two days before polling to all city and interior churches.
The move is unprecedented in its unusually hard hitting language uncharacteristic of bumiputera pastors and church leaders who have traditionally maintained a cordial relationship with the government.
"We, the native Christians of Sabah and Sarawak have kept silent for a considerable length of time. Some have taken our silence to mean something else. Therefore, the time has now come for us to speak," the communiqué said in its opening line.
"Surely the way forward is no longer found in the status quo which expects the bumiputera Church in Sabah and Sarawak to remain silent," it added.
"Two-thirds of the Church in Malaysia is made up of bumiputera Christians in Sabah and Sarawak. In this respect, we speak with pastoral and moral responsibility and authority against religious bigotry, racism and extremism in any form.
"But we are not alone as our non-bumiputera brothers and sisters in Christ have also expressed similar concern over the ‘Allah' issue on other occasions. We, therefore, speak as one voice," the communiqué said.
Call on EC to act swiftly
Meanwhile, their non-bumiputera counterparts in the peninsula issued an equally hard hitting statement yesterday.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), the umbrella Christian body, issued a strongly-worded statement at what they call a "despicable and heinous" anti-Christian message on election campaign boards and demanded the Election Commission (EC) act swiftly to douse the sparks of such religious fear-mongering from catching fire once more.
"These fears are real given the recent history of Church burnings and threats to burn the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia," said Rev Eu Hong Seng, chairperson of CFM, and its executive committee.
"The message pits one community (Muslims) against Christians by spreading fear through scare tactics using the issue of ‘Allah' which the High Court had allowed as a right to freedom of religion."
(The decision is under appeal by the government to be heard on May 8, three days after polling day). BN has since denied the allegations and claimed they did not put up the advertising boards.
Clearly upset with Najib Razak's flip-flop over the ‘Allah' and Alkitab controversy, the bumiputera communiqué pointed out that, "when the caretaker prime minister first mooted the Global Movement of Moderates, we were enthusiastic in extending our support for the initiative.
But ironically, the movement is being incessantly and blatantly distracted by unscrupulous elements from within its own ranks, whose strange proclivity is leaning more towards racism and extremism."
Authorities' tolerance of bigotry hit
"A manifestation of such extremism is the extent to which fringe groups within our midst would go to advance their racism and religious bigotry over the controversy of the use of the word ‘Allah' to refer to God by non-Muslims.
"They have even suggested an open season for burning Bibles (pesta membakar Alkitab). Nothing can be more seditious and incendiary. Yet they were tolerated by the authorities," it added.
It argued that the ‘Allah' controversy is not really about religion as such but about unreasonable government policies and laws.
"In the face of such unreasonableness we cannot and should not remain silent. The time for us to speak has come," it said.
It was also careful to point out that, "Indeed, in speaking we are mindful to extend love to those who may not agree with us. The essence of God is love (1 John 4:8) thus we are compelled to love even our enemies (Matthew 5:44)".
The outrage has been simmering for a while but it was at the recent biennial general meeting in Kuching of the Association of Sarawak Churches, the umbrella Christian body in the state, that its chairperson, Rev Bolly Lapok, the Anglican Archbishop of Sarawak as well as the newly appointed Archbishop of the Anglican Church in South-East Asia, delivered his no holds-barred address.
Those involved in drafting the communiqué revealed that the body of the text was largely taken from the Archbishop address with his consent.
It was known as the "three Ks initiative" with members of the drafting committee including their lawyers drawn from Kuching, Kota Kinabalu and Kuala Lumpur scrutinizing the numerous drafts.
Meanwhile, most churches, especially those in the remote interior are shifting the Sunday worship to Saturday to ensure their members vote in time as polling there closes earlier at 1pm.
(2) Court queries propriety of procedure in Herald case, 8 May 2013
by Bernama
The Court of Appeal in Putrajaya today questioned the propriety of the procedure adopted by the High Court in 2009, to simultaneously hear the Roman Catholic Church’s judicial review application over the usage of the word ‘Allah’, and the Islamic religious councils’ intervener applications.
A three-member panel led by Justice Abu Samah Nordin ordered lawyers for the church, Islamic religious councils, the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association and senior federal counsel representing the government and Home Ministry to submit on that issue on May 23.
The panel, also comprising Justices Balia Yusof and Rohana Yusuf, directed them to file their submissions on that issue, on or before May 16.
Balia said parties in the case should address on the procedure propriety issue as that would affect the legality of the High Court decision, in allowing the church’s judicial review application.
He said, if there was an irregularity in the procedure adopted by High Court judge Lau Bee Lan, the case could be remitted back to the High Court for a retrial.
Lawyer Porres Royan, representing the church, had told the panel that the High Court judge went on to hear both applications simultaneously, following a direction by former chief justice Zaki Azmi for speedy disposal of court cases.
Lau had, on Aug 3, 2009 allowed the applications of the Islamic religious councils and the association to intervene in the judicial review. However, two months later, she set aside her earlier decision.
She had set aside her own decision based on the Federal Court ruling in the case of Majlis Agama Islam Selangor vs Bong Boon Chuen & 150 others which states that the High Court had no jurisdiction to allow intervention in judicial review proceedings under Order 15 Rule 6(2)(b) of the Rules of the High Court 1980.
The Islamic religious councils and the association then filed the application afresh, using another provision - Order 53 (8) of the Rules of the High Court.
In Dec 2009, Lau heard simultaneously the applications brought by the Islamic religious councils and the association to intervene in the church’s judicial review and the judicial review, and subsequently, simultaneously pronounced her verdict for both applications.
She had dismissed the religious councils and the association’s applications to be interveners in the case but allowed the church’s judicial review and lifted the home minister’s ban against the Catholic Church publishing the word ‘Allah’ to refer to the Christian God in its weekly paper, Herald.
The Islamic religious councils and the association were allowed to participate at the judicial review hearing although there was no court order allowing them to intervene.
Panel scheduled to hear appeals of councils
The panel was scheduled today to hear appeals of the Islamic religious councils of Terengganu, Selangor, Kedah, Malacca, Wilayah Persekutan and Johor and the association against the High Court’s decision to disallow them to intervene in the judicial review.
Lawyer Mubashir Mansor, representing the Terengganu Islamic Religious Council, said the council wanted to intervene in the government’s appeal against Lau’s decision in allowing the church’s judicial review.
The government’s appeal is scheduled for case management on May 30.
In her ruling on Dec 31, 2009, Lau declared the decision by the home minister prohibiting Herald publications from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia publication which was specially to cater 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, 2010, 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 - the Catholic Weekly publication - was illegal and that the word ‘Allah’ was 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.
The government was represented by senior federal counsel Arik Sanusi Yeop Johari.
- Bernama
(3) Muslim lawyers: Act against Christian group using 'Allah', 14 May 2013
The Malaysian Muslim Lawyers Association (PPMM) has urged for action to be taken against the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) for using the word ‘Allah' in one of its programmes.
"PPMM calls on Muslim NGOs or any Muslim individuals to come forward and lodge police reports for investigations to commence.
"State Islamic religious authorities can also lodge police reports for investigations and appropriate action to be taken against those who breached the enactment (on prohibition for use of the word 'Allah')," said PPMM president Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar.
Zainul pointed out that a court case on whether non-Muslims could use the world 'Allah' was still ongoing and until then, enactments in several states preventing non-Muslims from using the word 'Allah' still stands.
"The case is being heard at the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya and has been fixed for May 23 where six state Islamic religious councils and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association have applied to be interveners," he added.
NECF had produced a poster urging all churches and Christians to pray to Allah for the country under a programme dubbed as ‘Malaysia MyHome' which was posted on Facebook.
"The poster by NECF clearly misused the sacred name of Allah and is a criminal action," he said.
Catholic weekly Herald had in 2010 won the rights to use the world 'Allah' after a challenge against the Home Ministry's ban at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
However, Zainul noted that a stay has been allowed on the decision pending an appeal at the Court of Appeal and thus, the status quo applies.
"It is an offence for any parties to deliberate and continuously use the word 'Allah' and other (Islamic) terms in a non-Islamic context for any purposes," he stressed.
2. Catholic Asian News（http://www.ucanews.com）
by Malaysian Insider
15 May 2013
An evangelical church group’s Facebook message calling Christians to pray for “Allah’s blessings” on the country has riled up a group of Muslim lawyers who are demanding state Islamic bodies act against what they have branded a “criminal” offence against their creed.
The Muslim Lawyers Society of Malaysia (PPPMM) today accused the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship of Malaysia (NECF) of committing “criminal” blasphemy against Islam by misappropriating the name of the Islamic god for their purposes, even as the dispute is being heard in the Court of Appeal.
“It is an offence for any party to deliberately and continuously use Allah and a few other words with roots from Islam in the context of a non-Islamic religious for any purpose.
“The NECF poster that has clearly misused the sacred name of Allah is obviously a criminal action and breaches the Schedule of (Section 9) Part I of the Enactment that forbids the use of the name of Allah as well as other Islamic terms by non-Muslims,” PPPMM president Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar said in a statement.
While the Federal Constitution upholds the right to freedom of religion, nearly all of the 13 states have enacted legislation that allows for control and restriction of the propagation of non-Islamic religions.
The law cited by Zainul refers to a list of words, which the respective state Islamic authorities deem strictly forbidden to be associated with a non-Muslim religion.
For example, Terengganu, which was the first state to enact the state law in 1986, forbids non-Muslims from spreading their religion using 22 words such as Allah, ulama, injil, fatwa, mufti, dakwah, rasul and even mubaligh.
Claiming to have received numerous complaints from various non-governmental Islamic organisations, Zainul urged the respective state Islamic departments and councils to file police reports to pressure the government to act against the church.
In its Facebook page, the umbrella body representing the country’s evangelical churches urged, in the national language, all churches and Christians to “embrace, love and bless the country with Allah’s presence and power”.
The same message was also carried in English and Chinese.
Under a project it called “Malaysia My Home”, the NECF urged believers in the faith to put prayer and action together for God’s blessing to institute “real and lasting change for our communities”.
The message also called on Christians to “get to know the people around you” and to “extend help to those in need”.
The message was posted on May 9 — four days after Malaysia’s hotly contested 13th general election and in which the results have fractured society.
A High Court had in 2009 ruled that the Catholic Church had the right to publish the word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its newspaper, Herald, as the Arabic word was not exclusive to Islam, contrary to the belief of many Muslim Malaysians.
Issues concerning religion and race in this country of 28 million, where 60 per cent are constitutionally defined as Malay and Muslim, touch a nerve and have sparked violence in the past, leading to attacks on several places of worship nationwide in 2010 following the landmark judgment.
The Home Ministry is appealing High Court judgment and the Court of Appeal is currently hearing an appeal by several state Islamic councils to intervene in the case as well.
Hearing for intervention is set to resume on May 23.
Full Story: Muslim lawyers see red over Christian ‘Allah’ prayer poster on Facebook
Source: Malaysian Insider
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