Court action on Allah issue is not against Muslims and Islam, says Sabah church

Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), Sabah's second largest church, has assured Muslims that the Catholic church's appeal against the Allah ruling is not against them or Islam, but against the wrongful conduct of the Federal Government and its officials.

In a communique to its leaders and members today, SIB said the church has never undermined the position of Islam as the religion of the federation.

SIB president Reverend Datuk Jerry W.A. Dusing in the statement, however, also pointed out that Christians should not be misled by assurances by certain quarters that they could use word Allah to refer to God in Sabah and Sarawak.

"It is more than just about a word; it is about the fundamental right to worship God in the way we have been doing for generations without hindrance.

"The decision of the Court of Appeal against Herald puts new restrictions on our human and constitutional rights to freedom of religion.

"Nevertheless, we urge you to continue your friendship with your Muslim brothers and sisters and to extend love to them as you have always done," he said.

Dusing, however, stressed that by the same token, Christians also expected their constitutional right to profess, practise and propagate their faith to be respected by the courts and the government.

He noted that although SIB welcomed Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak's assurance that Christians in Sabah and Sarawak can continue to use the word Allah and the Al-Kitab following the Court of Appeal's decision on October 14, any decision must be based on Constitutional guarantees of the people's religious freedom.

"We reject any 1Malaysia - two Alkitab policy that only serves to divide the nation and will not serve our members who are residing in Semenanjung Malaysia," he said.

SIB also reminded its members of the case it filed against the government in 2007 regarding the Allah issue, which is scheduled for mention this Wednesday at the Kuala Lumpur High Court, and explained that its position on the matter remained the same.

SIB is suing the Home Ministry for confiscating its Malay-language Christian education publications that contained the word Allah in 2007.

Dusing said it was SIB's policy to resolve any dispute amicably but in this matter, all other means had been exhausted without any resolution.

As the Allah ruling was affecting the fundamental rights and freedom of the practise and expression of the Christian faith, SIB was seeking redress from the court, he said.

SIB also suggested that the Allah issue could be resolved if Putrajaya took steps to withdraw the December 5, 1986 circular by the Home Ministry that banned the use of the word Allah, among other words, in all non-Muslim publications.

This was also brought up last week by former attorney-general Tan Sri Abu Talib Othman, who said Home Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi could just revoke the 1986 ministerial order to end the hotly-debated controversy.

SIB proposed that the 1986 letter be amended by another letter to limit the restriction to just the words "Kaabah", "Baitullah" and "Solat" in Christian publications in Malaysia.

The Christian group also wanted reviews on administrative and legislative action that offended the meaning and intent of the letter, giving full effect to the 10-point solution in 2011 that allowed churches in Sabah and Sarawak to continue using the word Allah.

"We want to work towards a fair and just resolution of the pending case in the High Court, which will provide a clear formulation of the constitutional rights of Christians to use the word Allah," Dusing added.

SIB, which is the second largest Christian denomination in Sabah, has members who are mainly Bumiputeras of various ethnic groups.

They use the Malay-language bible, Al-Kitab as its Holy Scripture. The Al-Kitab uses the word Allah to refer to God.

FMT