Christian body decries Herald seizure as rights violation

(MM) – Putrajaya’s alleged seizure of copies of The Herald in Sabah is a violation of the church’s right to distribute the newsletter to its own members, a Christian umbrella body said today in protest against the latest incident in the “Allah” controversy.

Council of Churches (CCM) general secretary Rev Hermen Shastri said if the ministry had indeed ordered for the 2,000 copies to be withheld without any acceptable grounds for doing so, the group would “definitely” voice its objection.

“This is shocking. It is unacceptable. It is a denial of rights of the church to distribute its newsletter, which is meant for its own members.

“If there are no grounds (for the ministry’s order), we will definitely strongly protest,” Hermen told The Malay Mail Online here, adding that they will wait for further information from the Catholic Church on the issue.

According to Herald editor Fr Lawrence Andrew this afternoon, around 2,000 copies of the weekly publication were seized at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) on Thursday, apparently on order of the Home Ministry.

“The consignment arrived at 2.54pm on Thursday, and it was checked by KDN officials as the usual practice,” he told The Malay Mail Online, referring to the Home Ministry’s Malay acronym.

“The forwarding company were however told not to release the consignment. The company checked again on Friday at 10am, and were told that the consignment has been withheld. No reason was given,” Lawrence added.

The priest said that as of now, there is still no news as to the status of the consignment, which was supposed to have been distributed to churches in the Kota Kinabalu and Keningau dioceses.

The distribution ban is the latest incident to hit the controversial tussle between the Catholic Church and the government over the use of the word “Allah”.

Earlier this month, the Court of Appeal ruled that the Home Ministry’s decision to ban the use of the word in the Herald was justified, as the use of the word “Allah” was not integral to the practice of the Christian faith.

The ruling – which overturned an earlier High Court decision that the ban was unconstitutional – has since sparked confusion over the use of the word by Christians in their worship, especially with conflicting opinions within the government itself on how far the ruling would affect practicing Christians.

Churches in Sabah and Sarawak, however, 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.

The Najib administration issued the 10-point solution shortly before the Sarawak state election in 2011 to end a Home Ministry blockade of shipments of Christian holy scriptures in the Malay language containing the word “Allah”.

The Cabinet, through Minister Datuk Seri Idris Jala, had stated in the resolution that the large Bumiputera Christian population in Sabah and Sarawak could use their holy books in the Malay, Indonesian, and indigenous languages.

Datuk Seri Panglima Dr Maximus Ongkili, the energy, green technology and water minister, said last Wednesday that the Court of Appeal’s verdict should, “in no way”, affect the 10-point solution.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Tan Sri Joseph Kurup also reportedly said recently that the Cabinet has decided to stick to the 10-point solution.

Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and de facto law minister Nancy Shukri have said that the court ruling was restricted to the Herald.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak also said previously that the ruling would not affect Sabah and Sarawak, while separately another Cabinet minister claimed that Christians from the Borneo states could also use the word in peninsula Malaysia.

They were silent, however, on whether the Herald ruling meant the publication could be distributed in Sabah and Sarawak.

According to a 2010 census, Muslims are Malaysia’s largest religious group, followed by Buddhists. Christians are the third-largest at 2.6 million, which comes up to about 10 per cent of the entire Malaysian population.

Bumiputera Christians, who form about 64 per cent or close to two-thirds of the Christian community in Malaysia, have used the word “Allah” when praying and speaking in the national language and their native tongues for centuries.