Malay groups to protest at Klang church, threaten ‘uprising’ over ‘Allah’
(MM) – A rally will be held at the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes in Klang this Sunday morning over the insistence of Christians in the state to use the word ‘Allah’, a coalition of Malay-Muslim groups announced today.
The coalition calling themselves the Klang Muslims Solidarity Secretariat blamed church leaders for sparking the current row over the Arabic word and threatened an “uprising” if their demand to stop non-Muslims from using it is ignored.
“We will not conspire and give permission to any churches to use the word ‘Allah’, and this includes other non-Muslims as well,” the secretariat’s president, Mohd Khairi Hussin told reporters here.
Mohd Khairi, who is also the Kapar Umno religious bureau chief, pointed out that the relationship between Muslims and Christians in the country had been cordial before church leaders allegedly challenged to use the word in their worship.
The rally is expected to draw Muslims from around the Klang area, and participants will gather at 9am before marching towards the 85-year-old Catholic church to deliver a memorandum expressing their dissatisfaction.
The plan comes following Umno Selangor’s threat to protest outside all churches in Selangor this Sunday unless a senior Catholic priest apologises over his remark insisting on the religion’s use of “Allah”.
Gombak Umno head Abdul Rahim Kamarudin said that Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Catholic Church’s weekly paper, The Herald, has until Saturday to withdraw his statement.
The secretariat confirmed today that another protest will happen simultaneously at the Metro Tabernacle Church in Taman Samudera, Gombak on Sunday, followed by similar protests around Selangor in the days after.
Among the non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in the coalition are Jalur Tiga Malaysia (Jati), Selangor Perkasa, Klang Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), and Pertubuhan Ikatan Kebajikan dan Dakwah Selangor (IKDDAS).
The coalition also revealed today that it will be inviting former Selangor PAS commissioner and Meru assemblyman Dr Abdul Rani Osman to join the rally, whom it expected will support its cause.
“He is one of the legislators in Selangor, he is a state assemblyman who is involved in drafting laws. He should have defended the laws in Selangor himself,” said Norman Toha, the secretary-general of Jati.
Newly-appointed Jais director Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad said last Thursday that letters will be sent to all churches in Selangor, asking them to comply with the state ban on non-Muslims from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including “Allah”, which are listed under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
Lawrence previously criticised the Jais plan to compel churches in the state to stop using the Arabic word for God, and said the Catholic Church would not abide by such a directive.
Following that, Selangor police chief Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan had announced today that Lawrence will be called to explain his remarks insisting on the use of “Allah” by Selangor churches.
In a report by Malay newspaper Berita Harian today, Shukri said police will contact Father Lawrence Andrew to provide his statement shortly.
The tussle over “Allah” arose in 2008 when Catholic newspaper The Herald was barred by the Home Ministry from using the Arabic word. The Catholic Church had contested this in court and won a High Court decision in 2009 upholding its constitutional right to do so.
Putrajaya later appealed the decision and successfully overturned the earlier decision when the Court of Appeal ruled this October that “Allah” was not integral to the Christian faith.
Despite the ban, the effects have not intruded directly into the everyday worship of Christians; it has so far been limited to a prohibition against the Herald printing the word, and the seizure of Christian religious materials, including the Al-Kitab Malay-language bibles and compact discs that contain the word “Allah”.
The shipments of the Al-Kitab were subsequently released but the compact discs have yet to be returned to its owner who has filed a lawsuit against the government.
The Catholic Church has since appealed to the country’s top court for clarity on the religious row that has drawn deep lines between Malaysia’s non-Muslim minorities and its 60 per cent Muslim population.
