KUALA LUMPUR - The ban on Christians from using the word “Allah” is not just repressive, but risks further inflaming religious tensions by denying the people the right to freedom of religion, Amnesty International said today.
Yesterday, the Federal Court dismissed the Catholic Church’s application for leave to appeal the ban on the use of the word “Allah” in its weekly publication, the Herald.
Amnesty International’s Malaysia researcher Hazel Galang-Folli said the idea that non-Muslims could face prosecution for using a particular word is disturbing.
“The authorities must immediately revoke this ban, which puts non-Muslims at risk of arrest for exercising their right to free speech.
“The ruling marks yet another blow to free speech, where the authorities continue to arrest and detain government critics, silence dissenting voices in the media and attempt to ban human rights groups from speaking out,” she said.
The government introduced the ban in 2007 after the word “Allah” was used in a Malay-language edition of the Herald.
The church appealed against the ban, arguing that “Allah” had been used to refer to the Christian God for centuries in Malay-language Bibles and other non-Muslim literature.
The High Court ruled in the church’s favour in 2009, but that judgement was later overturned by the Court of Appeal.
FMT
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