Bishop: In Allah ruling, politics prevailed Political expediency has prevailed over common sense and what is universally right, said Kuching Bishop Bolly Lapok. He was referring to the Federal Court’s decision yesterday to dismiss the Roman Catholic Archbishops review application on the grounds there were no procedural unfairness to the decision made by an earlier seven-member bench. The case was related to the Catholic weekly, Herald, using the term Allah in its publication. In this case, clearly it has not been the Herald nor the church but Malaysia that has been on trial before a watching world, said Lapok, who is also the fourth Metropolitan Archbishop and Primate of the Anglican Church of Southeast Asia. He also hoped that decision has not mired ourselves in greater complication. The word Allah has become embedded in the languages and cultures of the non-Muslim natives of West Malaysia, Sarawak and Sabah. My greatest concern is how far is the ruling going to affect indigenous expressions. It seems, the natives who should receive more help and protection are the ones who are affected the most by this decision, he told Malaysiakini. Meanwhile, Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) president Jerry A Dusing expressed disappointment with the Federal Court decision and the governments appeal in the Jill Ireland matter resulting in a stay being granted today. Dusing asked if the government was being sincere with the Christian community in Malaysia. As for the apex court’s decision, he said it would certainly affect the rights of minorities, especially the Malay-speaking Christian community. Malay-speaking Christians are asking for sincerity from the government as the earlier resolution (of limiting the usage of Allah to Sabah and Sarawak) should not apply to East Malaysia alone, as there is a big number of us working in Peninsular Malaysia, he added. Acting in bad faith Commenting on Irelands case, he asked: We wonder why the government wants to challenge the court ruling. In doing so, he accused the government of acting in bad faith towards the Malay-speaking Christian community. SIB had also filed a judicial review application to challenge the seizure of Christian religious books which were brought in from Indonesia. Dusing had previously said that SIB was merely seeking a just resolution for the Allah issue. Previously, it was reported that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had come up with a 10-point solution for the matter. In the Ireland case, Kuala Lumpur High Court judge Zaleha Yusof on July 21, 2014, ordered the return of the eight Christian CDs that the Customs Department seized from the Melanau clerk at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang in May 2008. Ireland had then brought the CDs, containing the word Allah, from Indonesia. The KL High Court today allowed a stay application against the return of the CDs. malaysiakini/news/287119
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 02:18:42 +0000