Najib: Stability the reason behind curb on Allah use
(MM) – Malaysia’s Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak defended a court ruling banning a Christian newspaper from using the word “Allah” to refer to God, saying yesterday it would help ensure stability.
The court decision this month fanned religious tensions and raised questions over minority rights in the mainly Muslim country.
Christians there have used the word for centuries, but the three Muslim judges ruled The Herald’s usage of it in its Malay edition would “cause confusion in the community”.
“People must understand that there are sensitivities in Malaysia, but what is important is public security and national harmony,” Najib told Reuters Insider in an interview.
He sought to clarify confusion over the scope of the ruling, saying it only covered the newspaper and would not stop people using the word in predominantly Christian areas.
“With respect to the court ruling it only applies to The Herald paper, which has got wide circulation, and doesn’t apply to the situation in Sabah and Sarawak. So what we’re trying to do objectively above all is to ensure stability and national harmony,” he said on the sidelines of the World Islamic Economic Forum in London.
Najib has in recent months sought to solidify his support among majority ethnic Malays, who are Muslim by law.
His government has toughened security laws and strengthened a decades-old affirmative action policy for ethnic Malays, reversing liberal reforms that were aimed at a broader section of multi-ethnic Malaysia.
Najib said he did not expect such moves to hit investor sentiment, saying that the government was strengthening its relationships with foreign and domestic investors.
Read more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/najib-stability-the-reason-behind-curb-on-allah-use
