The Malaysian Insider

By Shazwan Mustafa Kamal

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz has come out in defence of the Home Ministry’s move in appealing to the Court of Appeal over the controversial “Allah” issue.

He said that High Court judge Lau Lee Lan, who made the ruling that Catholics could use the word “Allah” in their weekly publication Herald, was wrong.

Nazri asserted that the judicial review was supposed to be on whether the Home Minister had the power to impose the ban, not on whether non-Muslims should be allowed to use the word “Allah”.

“In my opinion, the judge has erred in making the decision. The issue is whether the Home Minister had the power to impose a ban on the Catholic church in using the term “Allah”, not whether “Allah” can be used or not.

“The Home Minister was definitely acting within his powers in exercising the ban, in view of public interest and sensitivities in order to avoid public unrest over the matter,” said Nazri.

The Minister in the Prime Minister’s department explained that the supposed error in the judge’s ruling justified the Home Ministry seeking an appeal at the Appellate Court.

“We have to take into consideration the culture and nature of Malaysia. What is considered normal in the United States and Europe is not necessarily normal here.

“The Home Minister was doing the right thing, in making a decision to avoid public unrest and dissatisfaction among Muslims, who make up more than 60 per cent in this country,” said Nazri.

Nazri compared the “Allah” uproar to the cow-head protests in Shah Alam, saying that it is essentially very similar.

“Take the cow-head protests for example. If you look at it from a legal perspective, there seems to be nothing wrong with stepping on the head of a cow. But because a significant portion of this country’s

citizens are Hindus, the government has taken action against the cow-head protestors.”

The now-infamous cow head protest, which took place in Shah Alam in August last year was spearheaded by a group of Malay residents “angry” at the Selangor State Government for relocating a Hindu temple to Section 23, a Malay-Muslim majority area.

“I see the usage of the word “Allah” and the cow-head incident as the same. If you can take action against cow-head protestors, why not over the usage of “Allah” among non-Muslims? We have to be fair in the matter,” stated Nazri.

He went on to question the purpose of the Catholic church’s insistence in using the word “Allah”, saying that it was “irresponsible” and “looking for trouble”.

“If you do want to use the word God in Bahasa Malaysia, God is Tuhan. I don’t understand why you want to use Allah.

“The Malay word for God is Tuhan. Of course Muslims are not satisfied. For 50 plus years after independence this issue has never cropped up before.”

Nazri also urged fellow Muslims to not be carried away by emotions and to let common sense prevail, adding that if they demonstrate and cause public unrest, it may affect the decision making process in the Court of Appeal.

“We leave it to the  Court of Appeal to find a solution to the matter.”

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