The ‘Allah’ case at a glance: Part 1
Bob Teoh, The Malay Mail Online
Following a High Court decision on 31 Dec 2009 to allow Herald, the Catholic weekly, to refer to God as Allah in its Malay language edition, ten churches and a Catholic school were attacked.
So, too, were a few suraus, a Sikh temple and a Catholic girls’ school. Only one of the churches firebombed or attacked was extensively damaged and rendered unusable.
The rest suffered just superficial damage. But the fact remains they were attacked mindlessly.
The attacks sent shock waves through the nation and set race relations back by a few generations. All because of one word—Allah.
In 1980, the Umno-led Terengganu government became the first state to enact laws to control or restrict the propagation of other religions among Muslims. It decreed a list of 25 Arabic words and 10 phrases that are deemed exclusive only to Islam. One of these words is ‘Allah’. Other states followed suit.
The following year, the Alkitab or the Malay language Bible which uses the word ‘Allah’ was banned under the old Internal Security Act 1960 (now known as SOSMA 2012) on the basis that it is a threat to national security. This ban came five months after Dr Mahathir Mohamad became Prime Minister on 16 July 1981.
Subsequently, the Alkitab was allowed restricted use in churches only, but otherwise, the ban remains in force even till today.
But the Customs and Home Ministry continued to confiscate not only the Alkitab but also other Malay language Christian publications at entry points at ports and airports as well as from general bookshops.
This caused considerable losses to importers as well as an acute shortage of the Alkitab and other Bahasa Christian publications.
The confiscations were not made under the ISA nor the respective state Islamic enactments but under the Publications and Printing Presses Act 1984.
One gazette or cabinet decree after another continued to be issued to prohibit use of the Allah word by non-Muslims.
All of them serve only to reinforce the prohibition on usage of the Allah word for the past three decades.
Such gazettes actually contradict the Cabinet decision of 1982 where the Alkitab, or the Malay Bible, containing the word ‘Allah’ itself is not banned but restricted to Christians.
Things came to a head a few years ago, when the Home Ministry imposed a condition on the annual printing permit for Herald — The Catholic Weekly — in its Malay edition where it is now prohibited from using the Allah word.
After prolonged disputes over its printing permit, the Titular Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur as publisher of the Herald took the matter to court for a ruling on the constitutionality of the prohibition.
As soon as the High Court allowed the Herald to proceed with its case, seven state Islamic authorities decided to intervene on the basis that the matter involved Islam and the Malay rulers, therefore, the civil court has no authority to hear it.
The court rejected this intervention on the basis that the hearing had nothing to do with Islam or the Malay rulers.
It was all about whether the government made a bad decision in law or was acting unreasonably when it imposed a condition on the printing permit of the Herald to prohibit it from using the Allah word in its Malay edition.
The case involved Federal law and not state legislations.
When the court ruled against the government on 31 Dec 2009, it sent shock waves through the nation.
The attack on churches followed but died down as quickly as it had started, leading some to observe that the outrage was either stage-managed or not as threatening to public order as initially presumed.
In any case, there was no unanimity among Malays and Muslims. PAS as well as Keadilan supported the right of Christians to use the Allah word. Even Umno Youth favoured allowing Christians to use the Allah word.
Meanwhile, the government immediately filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal against the High Court judgement. Two similar cases are also in the courts over the use of the word Allah.
One is brought by Sidang Injil Borneo (Borneo Evangelical Church) Sabah over confiscation of their Bahasa Christian education publications from Indonesia while it was on transit to Sabah in 2007.
The other is brought by Sarawakian Melanau Bumiputera Christian, Jill Ireland, for confiscation of her audio CDs containing the Allah word also in 2007 at the Sepang LCCT airport. Both cases are part-heard.
Out of the two million Christians in Malaysia, the majority are Malay speaking pribumis or indigenous peoples from Sabah and Sarawak who use the Alkitab as their Holy Bible.
They would continue to refer to God as Allah no doubt. They know of no other word for God than Allah.
In addition, history, liturgy, etymology and theology favour the use of the Allah word as there is no substitute available.
