‘Allah’ ban only for Catholic newsweekly, says KL Archbishop

KUALA LUMPUR — The Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur told Christians yesterday that the ban on the use of the word “Allah” was only limited to the Catholic newsweekly Herald, and the word can be used in Malay Bibles as well as during praise and worship sessions.

Archbishop Julian Leow acknowledged that all legal means have been exhausted in the church’s battle to use the word “Allah” in the Herald, but said the Court of Appeal’s ban on the use of the word was only limited to the newsweekly.

In a pastoral letter published on the Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese website, Reverend Leow said the ban did not include a prohibition in the Alkitab — the Malay translation of the Bible — or during mass, praise and worship and prayer sessions.

“The government has said that the decision of the Court of Appeal is only confined to the Herald’s case. We shall take the government at its word,” wrote Reverend Leow, who is also president of the Catholics Bishops’ Conference of Malaysia.

He said despite the uncertainty over the repercussions of the ban on the rights of minorities to practice their faith, Catholics were a people of “faith and hope”.

Reverend Leow added that there was a lot to be gained from the experience and that Catholics needed to make a stand for justice and truth.

“We need to protect the rights of the minority and the voiceless,” said Reverend Leow. “We need to forgive and to reach out in love especially to those who misunderstand and are misinformed.”

Reverend Leow also thanked the team of lawyers for presenting the issues clearly and succinctly.

He said in his letter that the church’s journey started in 2008 when it was told by the Ministry of Home Affairs that it could not use the word for God the way a majority of Catholics in Malaysia had been doing for centuries.

Reverend Leow said the church mounted the challenge in court to exercise its constitutional right to manage its own religious affairs.

He added that they took the position that the Home Minister’s restriction on the use of the word “Allah” in the Herald went against the Federal Constitution.

“From the beginning, it had been an uphill journey, fraught with many challenges and obstacles. Yet, our team persevered and we have now finished the race,” he said.

A five-man panel headed by Abdull Hamid Embong delivered a unanimous decision last Wednesday to deny the Catholic church’s application for a review of the apex court’s earlier ruling. The decision did not grant the church leave to appeal the ban on the use of the word “Allah” in the Herald. THE MALAYSIAN INSIDER