KUCHING: Activist Peter John Jaban has commended the decision not to pursue the appeal against the court ruling allowing non-Muslims to use the world ‘Allah’.
The deputy president of Global Human Rights Federation said the decision respects the longstanding practices of the indigenous people of Sarawak, preserves racial and religious harmony of the nation.
Adding on, he said the decision is also the secular nature of the court system in which decisions are made according to the constitution and legal precedent instead of political pressure from special interest groups.
“This issue has been causing discord for some time, tying up an indigenous Sarawakian in court for many years and also forcing the courts to decide ‘ownership’ of a word which has been used in good faith in East Malaysia for 400 years.
“The Kuala Lumpur High Court’s ruling allowing non-Muslims to use the world ‘Allah’ has affirmed the feelings, sentiments, and appreciation of the true meaning of the world for all – especially among Sarawakian Bumiputera,” he said in a statement today.
Peter, from Sarawak, said the ruling has caused much joy among the Dayak Christian community in Sarawak and Sabah as there are some 2.6 million Christians who have been using the world ‘Allah’ to refer to God in sermons, hymns, prayers, public gathering, or literature.
“As the former chief minister and the late Tun Pehin Sri Adenan Satem made clear nearly a decade ago, this has never been an issue in Sarawak. It was made an issue in modern Malaysia.
“Now that we have a unity government and Malaysia Madani in place, it is encouraging to see that policy becoming more inclusive to all faiths and that the Home Ministry has decided to respect the ruling of the court,” he said.
At the same time, Peter said he hoped the government will not be unduly influenced by the various religious councils or pressure groups. “I hope that they choose instead to respect the religious freedom enshrined in our constitution and allow the Sarawak Christian to continue in their peaceful worship. The word ‘Allah’ should not be a battleground, it should be a beacon of solidarity,” he added
