A question that is often asked following the New Year’s Eve Allah ruling by High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan that the Roman Catholic’s newspaper, The Herald, is free to use the term “Allah” as it is not exclusive to Islam is this: Why didn’t the Christians and/or the Sikhs mount a legal challenge against the ban imposed by the Malaysian Government on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims in 1986 and the state amendments to this effect in 1988?
Now a local newspaper, Utusan Malaysia, is making this point. It said that because the use of the word “Allah” was already prohibited by state enactments in 1988, there should not be any dispute now.
Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa Adzib, the chairman of the MAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Council) agreed. He said: “Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah wants the state to abide by the Selangor Fatwa Council’s decision that the word ‘Allah’ is exclusive to Muslims.”
In 1986 the Malaysian government banned non-Muslims from using the word “Allah”. This government ban was published in the government gazette in 1986. Two years later in 1988, the state enactments were passed to give effect to this ban in the various states Effectively therefore, since 1988, the words “Allah”, “solat”, “ka’abah” and “Baitullah” were officially declared as exclusive to Islam.
So now the question is why did The Herald or anyone else take 20 long years to mount a legal challenge to the ban? The Herald filed its challenge 3 years ago. Why now? What has changed that prompted this legal challenge before High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan?
Now Rev Dr Hermen Shastri, secretary general of the Council of Churches in Malaysia throw some light on this in a recent interview with The Nut Graph. He said that Christian leaders did not mount a legal challenge against the government ban then because of assurances given by 2 former prime ministers that the term “Allah” could be used within Christian circles. Rev Dr Hermen Shastri said: “Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Tun Abdullah Ahmad Badawi both assured the Christian community that it would not be an issue using ‘Allah’ within our community.”
Rev Dr Hermen Shastri added: “Former Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s position was if Christians use the word ‘Allah’ among ourselves, sell our bibles in Christian bookshops, and indicate it’s a Christian publication, then that was fine.”
Pastor Richard Samporoh confirmed that there was indeed an understanding with the previous prime ministers. He said: “I’m not very sure if there was a written agreement but it was during Musa Hitam’s time. We can use the word ‘Allah’ in our Bible, but it cannot be sold in public bookstores.” Tun Musa Hitam was the Deputy Prime Minister when Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad was the Prime Minister.
So why did the The Herald mount that legal challenge 3 years ago? Rev Dr Hermen Shastri said that this was because the previous understanding – the equibilirium – was broken in 2007 when the Home Ministry banned The Herald from using the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia publication. He said: ”The Herald had no other choice. The only way open was to take the matter to court.”
But if, as Utusan Malaysia said, the issue had long been settled by the state enactments, then how come The Herald could mount a legal challenge in the High Court before Judge Lau Bee Lan, and win the case?
Andrew Khoo, lawyer and legal adviser to the Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia, said regarding the Selangor enactment: “Although the section on the use of ‘Allah’ is very wide, the preamble sets the context.”
So what does the preamble to the Selangor enactment say? Andrew Khoo explains that the Selangor enactment states that the law intended to “control and restrict the propagation of non-Islamic religious doctrines and beliefs among persons professing the religion of Islam.”
So within this preamble, if a Christian church or a Sikh temple is not seeking to convert a Muslim but to edify its own members, it can use the word “Allah” so long as it is within its own congregation. This, said Andrew Khoo, while not ideal, was workable.
The word “Allah” is also used by the Sikhs to describe God n the Punjabi language. Now a Sikh Temple in Sentul came under a barrage of stones yesterday, marking the first attack on a non-Christian place of worship since the Allah ruling.
So how can this Allah ruling controversy be resolved? Certainly not by attacking churches, convents or Sikh temples. Prof Shamrahayu Abdul Aziz, a constitutional law lecturer at the International Islamic University Malaysia said: “I believe only Malaysians can solve this unique problem. We have to be tolerant and negotiate among ourselves to bring back the ‘peace and harmony formula’ we once enjoyed.” Could reverting to the previous status quo under the 2 former prime minister be the answer? Time will tell.
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