Tan Sri Joseph Kurup also urged Malaysians to stop practising racial and religious …
PETALING JAYA, Oct 212013 — A minister in the Prime Minister’s Department insisted today that Christians in Peninsular Malaysia can still use the word “Allah” in their weekly masses, even after the recent ruling by the Court of Appeal.
Tan Sri Joseph Kurup also urged Malaysians to stop practising racial and religious bigotry, which he said is the root cause behind the deteriorating solidarity between Malaysians.
“I am aware that the ruling is only applicable to the Herald case. It is specific to the Herald case. This means those who are in Sabah and Sarawak are still free to use that “Allah” word,” Kurup told reporters here.
The minister in charge of national unity also answered “yes” when asked for his opinion whether the word can still be used by Christians in their weekly masses in Peninsular Malaysia.
The Court of Appeal ruled last week against a 2009 High Court decision allowing the Catholic Church to refer to the Christian god with the Arabic word “Allah” in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its weekly paper, the Herald.
The court adjudged the usage of the word “Allah” as not integral to the Christian faith and said that allowing such an application would cause confusion in the Muslim community.
Former attorney-general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman had since weighed in on Saturday, saying that all Malaysians are bound by the ruling, not just those in the peninsula.
Meanwhile, current attorney-general Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had said that the Home Minister has the discretion to ban any words deemed “prejudicial or likely to be prejudicial” in regards to national security and public order.
In his speech during the launch of December’s Global Peace Conference 2013 today, Kurup said that racial and religious bigotries “totally contradict” Putrajaya’s national reconciliation efforts and the Federal Constitution itself.
According to Kurup, the Constitution guarantees the right of every ethnic group to worship in their own religions and to preserve their own languages and culture.
“Racial and religious bigotry are the cause for our anger and frustration and the root problem of our nation’s deteriorating solidarity and unity. This must stop,” he said.
“Everyone especially political and religious leaders should be more careful in what they articulate in public forums so not to stir up racial sentiments and to avoid further dividing our communities.”
Catholic Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam has said today that denying Malay-speaking Christians the right to describe God as “Allah” in their worship and in the Al-Kitab is tantamount to persecution.
The archbishop of Kuala Lumpur also pointed out that more than half of the Catholic Church’s parish churches and chapels in the peninsula conduct at least one worship service or catechism lessons weekly in Bahasa Malaysia, in order to cater to the thousands of Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians from Sabah and Sarawak who live here.
Churches in Sabah and Sarawak have said that they will continue their age-old practice of referring to God as “Allah” in their worship and in their holy scriptures.
Several ministers also said recently that the 10-point solution issued by Putrajaya in 2011 — which allows the printing, importation and distribution of the Al-Kitab, the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Christian bible, containing the word “Allah” — should stand, despite the appellate court ruling.
