Don’t play with fire, Utusan tells Christians after Jais raid

(The Malay Mail) – As simmering conflict over “Allah” exploded back into public consciousness yesterday, Umno-linked Utusan Malaysia has warned Christians not to “play with fire” by insisting on using the Arabic word for God.

Writing under the shared “Awang Selamat” pseudonym, the newspaper’s editors lauded the actions of Selangor Islamic authorities and police in raiding the Bible Society Malaysia (BSM) yesterday and seizing copies of the Al-Kitab and Bup Kudus, respectively the Malay- and Iban-language bibles.

“Sections of Christian leaders appear to remain inflexible and stubborn. They remain eager to try and spread Christianity to Muslims,” the editorial alleged.

“See how arrogant the editor of Catholic the Herald in insisting on using the ‘Allah’ in his publication.”

Yesterday’s raid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department followed its announcement last week that it planned to telling churches in the state to cease using “Allah” in their worship, as part of a state law and royal decree limiting its use to Islam.

The Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988, passed by the then Barisan Nasional state government, prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).

But lawyers have since questioned the authority of Islamic authorities to raid the BSM premises or seize the bibles, pointing out that Jais and other such departments have no jurisdiction over non-Muslims.

They also cast doubt on the validity and constitutionality of enactment, which not only imposes the statewide ban, but was also used to arrest and probe two BSM officials during the raid.

Previous seizures of the Al-Kitab were executed by the Home Ministry under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) that required these to convey that they are restricted to Christians only.

Despite allegations of abuse and illegality in yesterday’s raid, “Awang Selamat” endorsed Jais’ actions against the BSM and instead blamed Christians for inviting this upon themselves.

“For Awang, the Jais action at the BSM office was not a question of violating religious freedoms or disrespecting the sensitivities of non-Muslims.

“This would not have happened if they obeyed the Sultan’s decree barring them from using the word ‘Allah’ in the Malay language bibles,” the newspaper added.

Temperatures have risen of late over the so-called “Allah” row that remains unresolved four years after it shocked the nation and led to the worst religious strife in the country’s history.

Umno Selangor and Muslim groups are now set to protest outside churches this Sunday over Christians’ refusal to yield to their insistence that “Allah” was exclusive to Islam in Malaysia.

Putrajaya previously sought to reassure the Christian population of Sabah and Sarawak that the ban did not apply to them, issuing a 10-point solution in 2011 that allowed them the continued use of “Allah”.

But yesterday’s action against BSM, which holds the distribution rights to Malay- and indigenous-language bibles used in the two states, has thrown this into doubt.

The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church over its right to print the word “Allah” in the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.