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Chief Minister Tan Sri Datuk Amar Adenan Satem told Christians here there was no law in Sarawak that prevents them from using the term ‘Allah’ to refer to God.

“There is no law in Sarawak that says you cannot use the word ‘Allah’, and I will not permit such a law in Sarawak as long as I am the Chief Minister,” he said during a meeting with the people at the Catholic Centre here yesterday. Read more »

The fact that three out of a seven-man Federal Court bench gave dissenting judgments on the recent "Allah" case is an indication there are cogent grounds for the decision to be reviewed by another panel of the apex court, said a Christian leader from Sarawak.

Archbishop John Ha of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuching also said given Putrajaya's immediate statement to assure Christians that the ban was limited to the Catholic weekly, Herald, and that the 10-point solution still stood, shows that the Federal government had the power to lift the ban on the use of the word Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia section of Herald. Read more »

The general elections of 2008 and 2013 saw an awakening in this beloved nation of ours. An awakening of the people of Malaysia to our rights, to our democratic values and to the shared aspirations of the people.

There was a sense of ownership in the destiny of our country. This is evident from the high voter turnout in the recent general elections. Read more »

Bumiputera Christians have become “instant criminals” after the Federal Court ruled to uphold a lower court decision against allowing the Catholic Church the use of the word “Allah” for God, the Sarawak Ministers’ Fellowship (SMF) said.

The umbrella group representing evangelical missions in the state noted that the bulk of Bumiputera Christians were from East Malaysia where the bibles in their native tongues or in the national language contained “Allah”, but added that thousands of Sarawakian Christians worked or studied in the peninsula where their word for God was now barred to them. Read more »

The 10-point solution which Putrajaya brokered in 2011 to allow Christians in East Malaysia to use the word "Allah" in their Bibles and religious practices has no legal force in the light of Monday's ruling by the Federal Court, lawyers say.

They said the 10-point solution now flies in the face of the legal principles established in the Court of Appeal ruling which upheld the Home Minister's decision to ban the word "Allah" in the Catholic weekly, Herald. Read more »

The Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) today insisted it will continue to seize Bibles that contained the word Allah in the state, adding that it had every right to destroy the holy books it had already seized earlier this year from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM).

Its chairman Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa said operations to counter the distribution of such Bibles in Selangor will continue and warned that it will not hesitate to arrest those distributing it. Read more »

The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) has pushed the contentious issue of the seized Bibles back to the Selangor Menteri Besar, saying any decision on the holy books lies with Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

An officer from the office of Jais deputy enforcement director Mohd Shazihan Ahmad said that any questions or comments about the Bibles will now have to go through the menteri besar. Read more »

The Federal Court's dismissal of the Catholic church's appeal yesterday only serves to complicate matters over the rights of minorities in the country to freely practise their faith.

For one, the Court of Appeal's (CoA) decision last October that the Home Ministry was right to ban the word 'Allah' gives grounds to the State to dictate the way minorities should practice their faith, said constitutional lawyer Syahredzan Johan. Read more »

The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) said today that it might remove the clause prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation from its proposed anti-discrimination law because of political pressure.

Lim Chee Wee, deputy chairman of the NUCC law and policy committee, said the council had faced objections from a few political parties, but declined to name them or elaborate on the grounds of their protest. Read more »

Putrajaya said that today's Federal Court ruling on the Allah issue applied only to the Catholic weekly, Herald.

Malaysian Christians can still use the word Allah in church and the government remains committed to the 10-point solution, a statement from Putrajaya said.

"Malaysia is a multi-faith country and it is important that differences are managed peacefully in accordance with the rule of law and through dialogue, mutual respect and compromise," it said. Read more »