Khalid must take a stand against churches using ‘Allah’, says Selangor Umno
Trinna Leong, TMI
The Selangor menteri besar must direct the state religious authorities to act against churches using the word “Allah”, said Umno Selangor.
State Umno liaison secretary Datuk Johan Abdul Khalid wants Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (pic), who is the executive councillor in charge of religious affairs, to direct the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to look into the matter “since the sultan of Selangor has decreed that non-Muslims cannot use the word in the state”.
Urging Jais to act against those who defied the decree, Johan was quoted by the Sunday edition of Berita Minggu that any move to counter the decree was an act of treason. Johan who is Semenyih assemblyman said Umno would hold a rally if Khalid and Jais failed to take any action on the issue.
On Friday, Catholic weekly Herald editor Rev Father Lawrence Andrew said Article 11(3) (A) of the Federal Constitution prescribed that every religious group has a right to manage its own religious affairs.
“Our religion cannot be managed by any Muslim group. It is against the Federal Constitution. We will continue to use the word Allah in our masses,” he told The Malaysian Insider.
He said Jais, as an Islamic body, had no jurisdiction over other religious bodies.
Aside from the Catholic church, other churches, such as Sidang Injil Borneo, also conduct services in Bahasa Malaysia and other native languages, where the word “Allah” is used.
Andrew said that churches waited for orders from the archbishop, whom they recognise as their religious authority.
The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikkhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) had also said that Jais could not enforce a state law prohibiting Christians from using the word “Allah” as the legislation was declared unconstitutional by the courts four years ago.
Its president, Jagir Singh, said the 2009 decision by High Court judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan ruled that non-Muslims could use words like “Allah” provided it was confined to their own religious groups.
The Constitution forbids the propagation of any other faith to Muslims but there are also state Islamic laws that prohibited some words from being used by other faiths.
