MCA backs down from ‘Allah’ stand
KUALA LUMPUR, August 3 – The MCA attempted today to distance itself from the DAP although both parties had called on the government to lift the ban on the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims.
The Barisan Nasional (BN) component party’s backtrack on their stand came after Deputy Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin questioned them earlier today for sharing the same platform as DAP.
“MCA does not share the same stand with DAP on the call to lift the ban on the use of ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims,” said party president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek (pic) today in a statementDrop ‘Allah’ appeal, Kit Siang urges Cabinets
PETALING JAYA, Aug 2 – The DAP’s Lim Kit Siang called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s administration today to end the long-drawn out court dispute over who has the right to use the word “Allah” to mean God, and who does not.
“The Cabinet should make a decision to withdraw the appeal against the KL High Court judgment of Lau Bee Lan on the ‘Allah’ controversy,” the veteran opposition leader said in a statement today.
Lim (pic) was responding to Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein’s remark yesterday regretting that his predecessor, Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar Syed Jaafar had previously banned the Catholic Church from publishing the word “Allah” to also refer to God for Christians.
“We should have let sleeping dogs lie,” Hishammuddin was reported to have said.
The Church had taken the home minister to court early last year, challenging the ban slapped on its weekly newspaper, The Herald, after the ministry threatened to revoke its annual publishing permit.
In a landmark judgment last New Year’s Eve, High Court judge, Datuk Lau Bee Lan ruled the Catholic Church has the constitutional right to use the word and that it was not exclusive to the religion of Islam, as the ministry had claimed.
But the home ministry filed an appeal against the High Court decision in February and won a stay, preventing the Church from using the word until the case is dealt with in the Court of Appeal.
The Ipoh-Timur MP added that the ministers now had a chance to right the wrong, noting that Hishammuddin’s comment was tantamount to an “admission” the ban was a “mistake”.
“This is the time for Cabinet to take full responsibility for the resolution of this controversy, especially as the original decision to file the appeal against the Lau Bee Lan judgment was made without reference to the Cabinet,” Lim said.
He added that even though the decision to appeal was made by the Home Ministry, it reflected on each member of the Cabinet and on the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition individually.
Dropping the Home Ministry’s appeal would “demonstrate the government’s seriousness and commitment to resolve the issue through inter-religious dialogue,” Lim said.
The Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), an evangelical Christian movement originating from East Malaysia, is also challenging the Home Ministry’s ban, after several shipments of its books and CDs containing the word were seized.
The Home Ministry has claimed that use of the word would confuse the Malay Muslim community, who have traditionally believed the word “Allah” only refers to God in the Islamic context.
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