Religion is religion

Sin Chew Daily

Following the Federal Court’s ruling to reject a challenge to the ban on Catholic weekly The Herald using the word “Allah” to refer to the Christian God, the Catholic Church’s efforts to fight for the use of the world “Allah” through legal channels seem to have ended.

Currently, the only thing that the Church can do is to file a judicial review. According to legal professionals, there is no deadline to file a judicial review but the difficulty is, there are only a few successful examples over all these years.

Anyway, even though the legal debate on the issue, which is regarded as the country’s greatest storm of religious differences since the independence, is over, debate among members of the public would continue.

It is indeed the fact. Since the ruling was handed down by a seven-member panel, which voted by 4-3 to dismiss the challenge, while the Federal Court has also failed to provide a win-win outcome, there are polarised responses from the society.

Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew said that the judgement did not touch on the fundamental rights of minorities; Christian Federation of Malaysia’s (CFM) president Rev. Dr Eu Hong Seng even said that it is extremely sad as the Church’s right to challenge the ban in the Federal Court has been denied. Their regret and disappointment should receive understanding.

Meanwhile, Perkasa and its supporters rejoiced over the ruling, with some even cried. Its chief Datuk Ibrahim Ali said that he hopes the dispute on the word ‘Allah’ to be “resolved”. Should their responses be given the same concern?

The bipolar reactions showed that the Federal Court’s ruling has failed to satisfied and being accepted by all. Therefore, the storm will definitely not end here. The CFM has said that Christians whose mother tongue is Bahasa Malaysia will continue using the word “Allah” in their Bibles, church services and gatherings. Meanwhile, follow-up actions might follow, such as the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) might bring to court the doubt whether it has the right to confiscate and destroy the Malay language Bibles seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) office six months ago. It is foreseeable that the ruling will bring a profound impact that cannot be ignored on the interests and status of non-Muslims in the country.

Needless to say, such a development is worrisome. Courts are not helpful in resolving religious differences and have instead deepened the mistrust and misunderstanding among different religious organisations and followers, causing tension. This is definitely not what we want to see.

If the “Allah” issue is intensified due to the refusal to compromise, it will finally lead us to a vicious cycle. Once it deteriorates to such an extent, it will be the greatest misfortune to the country and the people.

Therefore, we insist that the “Allah” issue cannot be solved by legal and administrative means, unless if we are forced to. Courts are not the best platform to resolve religious differences and only the spirit of tolerance, the platform for dialogue, the sincere implementation of negotiation as stressed by the Cabinet’s 10-point solution, as well as mutual tolerance of differences and respect can maintain long-term religious harmony, allowing people of different races to leave together in this country peacefully. It is our hope, and I believe that it is also the common aspiration of most people!