IPOH, Jan 4 — Perak Umno’s three wings said Muslims have exclusive rights to use the word ‘Allah’ and are asking for royal intervention to reverse a controversial High Court ruling that has the country’s majority Muslims in an uproar.
The Umno Wanita, Youth and Puteri wings have pleaded to the Yang diPertuan Agong and the Malay Rulers, as the country’s leaders of Islam, to step in over the Catholic weekly Herald’s right to use the word to describe the Christian God in its national language edition for a section of the 850,000 Catholics in the country.
The leaders claimed that if all legal avenues were exhausted, the Conference of Rulers would be the only recourse left available to save the word ‘Allah’ from being misused by other religions.
They claimed that Muslims should have exclusive rights to the use of the word “Allah” by virtue of the fact that ‘Allah’ was not a general term but was specific in nature.
Additionally, despite claiming that the matter was non-political in nature, the Malay nationalist party also appeared to be cashing in on the situation to garner the support of all Muslims, regardless of which party their allegiances lay.
Perak Umno Youth chief Maslim Sham Razman told a joint press conference at the party headquarters here this evening that this was the “one time” that all Muslims and Malays should stand united in protecting what was rightfully theirs.
“We should all come together, regardless of the differences in our political beliefs because this affects us all.
“We need to protect the word 'Allah' from being used by others wrongfully,” he said.
He added that the general fear was that by allowing other religions to use the word 'Allah' as a Malay translation to their reference of God, confusion would occur amongst the young Muslims.
“We do not mean to insult those of the other religions or stop them from practicing their religions freely. We just feel that our religion and the word 'Allah' should not be insulted or have its holiness outraged in this manner,” he said.
Maslim noted that the issue had raised much anger amongst the Muslims and hence, should be settled once and for all as soon as possible.
Perak Umno Wanita chief Datuk Rusnah Kassim echoed this view and said that the wing was very disappointed with the High Court ruling.
“We feel that such a decision may not have an immediate effect in the short run but in the long run, it would definitely cause much confusion amongst out youths.
“For us, the name 'Allah' is a very special one and it is not a general word that can be used to refer to something. For example, the word 'flower' is a general word but a 'rose' refers to specific type of flower.
“It is the same with the word 'Allah',” she said.
Rusnah added that the High Court decision would also give birth to the beginning of the culture of infringing on rights enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
“It is a subtle way of allowing other religions to preach what is right and wrong in Islam. We do not want this to happen,” she said.
Rusnah also said the High Court ruling was not reflective of the values in Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak's 1 Malaysia concept.
“In 1 Malaysia, we learn of 'acceptance' which is a value that all Malaysians should follow. This means that all races need to accept the reality that Islam is Malaysia's official religion.
“All communities must know that Allah is for the Muslims,” she said.
Rusnah appealed on behalf of the wing for the Home Ministry to exhaust all legal avenues to appeal against the High Court's decision and should this fail, the Conference of Rulers should step in to intervene.
“Furthermore, we would also like to appeal for a law to be passed to state that the word 'Allah' is exclusively the rights of the Muslims and no other.
“We do not mean this as an insult to the other races but we just want what is ours to be protected and not misused,” she said, adding that the wing had no intention to take to the streets to voice its dissatisfaction.
When questioned if the stand of the three wings on the matter would give the general public and the world the perception that the party was being backward and old-fashioned in it beliefs, Rusnah forcefully disagreed.
She noted that it was true that in other countries like in Indonesia and Arab, those of other religious beliefs used the word “Allah” to refer to their gods.
“But in Malaysia, the context is different. In Arab and Indonesia, a smaller percentage of their population are actually Muslims.
“Here in Malaysia, this is our akidah (belief) and it is not a question of that this issue goes against our religion per se but on the fact that this belief has been held on to for so many years, so why is it being questioned today?” she said.
For the Perak Umno Puteri, its leader Salbiah Mohamed said that if those of other religious beliefs were allowed to refer to their Gods as 'Allah', it would make it seem like Islam was no different from the other religions.
“This is what will cause the confusion,” she said.
Meanwhile, state Umno veteran secretary Muhamad Mukhtar Asli, who was also present in the press conference, alleged that the Christians had some other “agenda” up their sleeves for wanting so badly to use the word 'Allah' in its Catholic weekly.
“I do not want to harp on this matter but for years, we as Muslims have not questioned the Christians in their practices and suddenly today, they are so insistent on using the word 'Allah' in their publication. Why is this? They must have some other agenda,” he said.
He added that the Conference of Rulers should dictate that any and all matters pertaining to Islamic issues should never be questioned by others, even by the courts.
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