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‘Allah’ allowed in East M’sia

by Phyllis Wong and Francis Chan | Borneo Post
January 15, 2010, Friday

Nazri says govt recognises two states’ traditional usage of word

KUALA LUMPUR: The word ‘Allah’ is allowed to be used by Christians in Sarawak and Sabah because the government accepts that the natives in these two states have traditionally been using it in their prayers and religious services and the Muslims there are accustomed to this practice.

This was stated by Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, in an exclusive interview with the KTS stable of dailies The Borneo Post, Oriental Daily and Utusan Borneo at his office here yesterday.

“Christians in Sarawak and Sabah need not worry over this issue because it is a common tradition there. I have been to an Iban church service and I heard the word ‘Allah’ used there,” he said.

However, ‘Allah’ is not allowed to be used by churches in Semanunjung Malaysia and Christians from the two states have to respect this ruling when they are in Semenanjung, Nazri said.

Asked why there are two sets of rules on the usage of the word ‘Allah’ in the nation, he pointed out that this is not a unique practice as Malaysia also has two sets of laws on other matters, citing the Syariah Court and the Civil Court as an example.

He explained that the situation in Semenanjung Malaysia is different as ‘Allah’ is only introduced into Christian worships and publications a few years ago.

Nazri said: “Muslims here in Semenanjung cannot accept it as ‘Allah’ was never used in Christian preaching until recently and they questioned the motive behind the substitution of ‘Tuhan’ for ‘Allah’.

“It is clearly stated in our constitution that no other religions can be propagated to Malay Muslims and this article has been enacted in all the states in Malaysia where the Sultan is the Head of State … so this excludes Federal Territory, Penang, Malacca, Sarawak and Sabah.

“In these states, for the ban on the use of ‘Allah’ to be implemented the Home Affairs Minister can use the Printing Act to enforce it.”

Nazri added that Christians should recognise that using ‘Allah’ in their worships and publications is sensitive to Muslims and that this is not an issue that can be solved by going to court.

“The government has a duty to stop acts of disrespect and provocation that inflame religious and racial feelings in the nation even if there was no law that stated these acts were wrong.

“Take for example, there is no law in the country that states stepping on a severed cow head is wrong but when a group of Malays did that in their protests against the building of a Hindu temple we hauled them up and charged them because that act was disrespectful to the Hindus,” Nazri said.

He added that on the same score, if the usage of ‘Allah’ by Christians was (it certainly is, he said) sensitive to Muslims the government has to act even if courts deem it legal.

If that is the case, why does the government resort to going to the court to resolve the issue on the usage of ‘Allah’ by Christians?

To which, Nazri replied that it was Archbishop Murphy Pakiam who brought it to the court and the government had no choice but to defend in court and that once the process of law on the case has started it could not be stopped.

He said the government is continuing with the case in court by applying for a stay of execution which the other party has agreed to.

Judge Lau Mee Lan, in ruling against the ban on the usage of ‘Allah’ by Christians, had said that there was no evidence to show that the use of ‘Allah’ could incite violence.

To this, Nazri said such incidents had not happened when the hearing was on and the government could not produce such evidence.

But on the other hand, he said, the attacks on churches after the ruling proved the government right.

“Banning the use of ‘Allah’ by Christians was a pre-emptive move to stop outbreaks of religious violence in the nation,” he argued. Asked how the controversy could be solved, Nazri said there had to be a solution soon and in the meantime he appealed to the people to be calm and rational.

81 Replies to “‘Allah’ allowed in East M’sia”

  2. Well,duh. Originally Islam was suppose to be a state matter when this suppose to be secular country was founded and this was part of the reason but even under Tunku, who opposed an Islamic state until his last breath, that started to change and got worst over the years.

  4. is nazri proposing to the government to drop the appeal of the high court decision? i.e. admitting that the initial ban was illegal. can and will someone sue the government and the home ministry?

    why do we need those church attacks to prove the government is right? miserable!

  5. //But on the other hand, he said, the attacks on churches after the ruling proved the government right.//

    Nazri has just confirmed that UMNO is behind the attacks on churches in order to present evidence in the Court of Appeal that the use of ‘Allah’ could incite violence.

  6. Christians in Sarawak and Sabah can use Allah
    But once they r in Semanunjung Malaysia, they cannot use Allah
    Their God has 2 b renamed, transformed
    What kind of solution is this
    Also, it seems that violence can b used 2 justify d change in court ruling
    Wow, dis is news fr a minister trained in law

  14. A Christian attending church in East Malaysia will pray to Allah but when he attends church in West Malaysia he is not allowed to pray to Allah. God is confused.

    You can call your father daddy in East Malaysia but when you are in West Malaysia you must not call him daddy or you will end up in jail.

  18. Did God command us to pray to Him in 2 different set of names in 2 different geographical places ie West Malaysia and East Malaysia?

    Are we truly God-appointed to write His Commands?

    Imagine when we pray with our hearts, we have to constantly mind our tongues, otherwise we slip our tongues! How hard is it to pray in tongues! God gracious!

  19. UMNO is descending from stupidity to lunacy.

    If it is law , it is law everywhere. So we have one law in the east and one in the west.
    So Khadazan, Dayaks, Ibans etc who come over to the west have to worship a different Allah.

    How come we have so many Allahs.
    The Muslim Allah is in the Peninsular (and belongs to UMNO) and the Allah of all creations is in Sabah/Sarawak.

    Then what about that ‘Tuhan’ we mention in the Negara Ku.
    Is it is a Muslim or non-Muslim Tuhan?

  21. ///“For example, there is no law in the country that states stepping on a severed cow head is wrong but when a group of Malays did that in their protests against the building of a Hindu temple we hauled them up and charged them because that act was disrespectful to the Hindus,” he said.

    He added that on the same score, the government would have to act if Muslims felt hurt by Christians using “Allah” in reference to God, even if the courts deemed it legal.///– Nazri Abdul Aziz

    Cow is treated as sacred animal by Hindus. Stepping on the severed head of a cow shows disrespect of the animal considered sacred by Hindu, and is indirectly insulting the feelings of Hindus.

    Allah is worshipped by Christians. So, Christians do not show disrespect of Allah. Why should Muslims feel hurt when Allah whom Muslims worshipped is similarly worshipped but Christians?

    Nazri should know that it is not right to compared apple with oranges, or for that matter human with monkey.

    The Muslim who was interviewed in Aljazeera TV quoted the saying “there is no God but Allah’ commented that Allah is mightier than God’. He would imply therefore that Christians should have access to Allah, which to him is the mightier God than God is known to Christians. And to him what he believes count, no matter whether the belief was nonsensical. That is jealousy.

    It should be noted that Islam is not only practised in Malaysia, and so Malays have to share Allah with Muslims around the world. The word ‘Allah’ is used by Christians around the world and of the 1.2 billion Muslims around the world, only 15 million Muslims are in Malaysia. So Muslims in Malaysia has only around 1% share of the power of Allah. There were perhaps less that 15 most probably Muslims who were involved in the recent attacks against churches. Other Muslims offered their opinion one way or another. Should 900,000 Christians in the country bow to the wishes of 15 persons who perpetrated vandalism? If 1.985 billion Muslims outside Malaysia are not jealous of non-Muslims using the term Allah as their God, why should the objection by 15 Muslims have their say. Has Malaysian government bowed to terrorism/vandalism?

    Praying to Allah gives those who said their prayer hope. Malaysian government won’t even allow non-Muslims to have that hope. The government implements the so-called affirmative action to ensure that Malays have their share of ownership of tangible properties. The NEP was for materialistic consideration. It is just too much of UMNO to now limit ownership of Allah to Muslims in Malaysia, and to deny Christians their hope of blessing from Allah.

    It has been argued that the use of Allah by Christians might confuse Muslims into leaving Islamic faith. Are Muslims that easily fooled? Kairul (? the Muslim who was interviewed by the Aljazeera TV) said that only some Muslims would be confused. Isn’t it a better policy to help enlighten those susceptible to be fooled on the Islamic religion than harbouring the fear that with exposure they would be easily fooled? It is not a just policy to legislate for the ‘benefit’ of a small number of persons who could be fooled at the expense of disallowing close to a million Christians to use the term Allah freely, in Peninsular as well. The government should realise that the term Allah has been adopted to refer to God even before Islam came into being. Christians in Peninsular Malaysia have the term Allah handed down as long as Christians anywhere in the world. It makes no sense to allow late comers to use the term exclusively at the expense of original ‘owners’ of the term.

    Malaysia practices democracy where the minority follows the majority. The number of Muslims who might be confused is clearly far smaller in number than the number of Christians who would be affected by the ban. Is it not obvious that the minority interest cannot outweigh that of the majority?

    ///Judge Lau Mee Lan, in ruling against the ban on the usage of ‘Allah’ by Christians, had said that there was no evidence to show that the use of ‘Allah’ could incite violence.

    To this, Nazri said such incidents had not happened when the hearing was on and the government could not produce such evidence.///–Nazri Abdul Aziz

    So, were the recent incidences orchestrated to provide the evidence? Ironically Nazri said that now the government has proof that by the ‘good work’ of the arsonists that the government was correct in banning the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Herald publication.

  22. Nothing to do with allah or not, because they RACIST. My wife work in Gov hospital, even her rank is higher than her staff, she need to do those assistant’s job, while those assistant doing nothing but hanging around. This country is really really racist.

  24. UMNO likes to portray the malays as weak cos that makes them wanted and to protect the Malays eg is like Malays will get misled and Malay students are weak…battle lost even before it started. The issue is are they really protecting the Malays and Islam? You can ponder it…but how can a party full of money politics which is against Islam, be an example of a muslim party?

    as for yusri in 101 East Aljazeera with marina and khalid, no where they use allah(?), my friend look at Indonesia. Indonesia has been using Allah for all for god knows how long. why did they use Allah, maybe there was no word better than Allah for god. and the Malay language borrows tons of word from everywhere, english, arabic and indian/Sanskrit more so than others. And he was happy that bible not translated into Malay and that should be the way. well my friend, if the bible was allowed to be translated this issue could have been solved, cos bible could use the word the govt allows. like Marina said, there is no foresight and thinking thru of the situation.

    Yusri we can’t deny in Malay language or Indonesian language(which is more widely spoken) Allah is being used. In Arab world, Allah has been used even before islam. and the sabahans and Sarawakians have been using it before they join Malaysia and after they join Malaysia and without hundreds of muslims being confused. Now Yusri Quran says ok to use, Fatwa says no…who is the higher authority? it is not a trick question. and the herald when to the courts cos they were pused to the wall, they have been using it and then comes minister Syed hamid and say no when UMNO elections was around the corner. were they asked to negotiate and settle it, no…that is why herald when to the courts. They had no choice

    This is a political issue cos it is being used to make up some lost ground for UMNO. and they will do anything to win a few more votes. Unfortunately for them, it has back fired. the courts will rule and we shall not be surprised the court of appeal rules against the herald. but the christians will continue using the word allah in their prayers(maybe you will go and arrest all those praying in silence) and true muslims will not worry cos they know their faith and no right minded christians will promote the religion to a muslim in Malaysia cos he will go to jail cos the law is clear on that. so what is the beef? it is politics!!!

    MPs from Sabah and Sarawak regardless of religion, should quit BN cos BN is bringing along race politics to your shores where people are more Malaysian and have been living in harmony for centuries. You MPs should do this for the sake of the people you represent and for all malaysians and for the future of our children and our grand children.

    Allah bless you and this nation.

  25. ha ha ha ha ha…lol.. I really cannot stop laughing, need to get the anti-laughing gas to stop it.

    This is najis 1Malaysia, another laughing gas thrown at the people.

    Will this means that East and West Malaysia have different GOD for the Christians? Oh my beloved 1Malaysia is now also 2Countries 2Christian GODs and this is good for there comes the 2PARTY SYSTEMs as well… Time to rid of umno najis and gang.

    Malaysia For All

    GE 13 – Change The Federal Government No matter what, we must ensure that racist umno bn do not regain the power like they had for over the past fifty two years.

  27. Hold up fellas… Now this in an interesting turn of events.

    Before we brush this latest development of, we gotta think through our next plan of action…

    It is painfully obvious that the reason UMNO is doing this is because they don’t want to lose votes in East Msia.

    On the other hand, if the West Malaysians keep fighting, we will be labelled as “Greedy, Uncompromising, and have hidden agendas”.

    We know this isn’t true, but let the Penang Kampung Buah Pala event be a lesson…sympathy and support can quickly turn to disdain and criticism from the public when the victims look like they are being overly demanding.

    I believe that UMNO is banking on the fact that the Christians will not accept this so called “compromise” and will carry out a dastardly plan to smear the name of the Oppostion and Christians.

    Maybe the best way to deal with this is to

    -Nod our heads politely.
    -Say thank you for letting this issue rest on at least one part of Malaysia.
    – Emphasize on the THANK YOU in all major blogs, publications and speaches.
    – Go home and vomit in disgust for granting UMNO that dignity.
    -Continue the fight.

    Sounds like a plan?

  30. There we go again. Here we have a minister who talk sense one minute and all of a sudden talk cock the very next minute.
    Have this guy lost his brain?? East Malaysia christian can use Allah while West Malaysian cannot!! My whole family is christian. My brothers and sisters reside in WM while my parents in EM. Imagine when they came to WM to pray where they cannot use Allah. What is 1Malaysia then??? Now we have 2Malaysia or may be 3..4Malaysia… …Goodness gracious, we really have a bunch of clowns running Bolehland. Guarantee to be in number ONE status for being the most laughable country on earth.

  31. Nazri is a great defender. When Mathathir is in charge, he fight for his life. When Badawi is in charge, he bit anybody including his ex-boss to defend the then PM. Now, Najis pulak…he will defend at whatever cost even with this nonsense and crap…does not make sense at all.

  32. //To this, Nazri said such incidents had not happened when the hearing was on and the government could not produce such evidence.

    But on the other hand, he said, the attacks on churches after the ruling proved the government right.//

    Dato Seri Nazri,
    Your abovesaid statement makes me feel that you are making a confession about the “good deed” you have done to the Catholic Churches, Sikh temple and the Christian Churches in order to create some evidences for supporting your religious cause!

    You Umnoputras could never wash you hands off too easily from now on with your such an honest confession!

  33. Also when a west Malaysian muslim calls out to Allah in east Malaysia, how does he know wether he is calling the christian Allah or muslim Allah ?

    Very clever, UMNO, you have now successfully created two versions of Allah – SYRIK !!!!!

  34. //“Banning the use of ‘Allah’ by Christians was a pre-emptive move to stop outbreaks of religious violence in the nation,” he argued.//

    Such a ban will also be an effective pre-emptive move to prevent the Christians from having any matter with ‘Allah’ in the future! But they will never be pre-empted from knowing God!

  35. Yes every now and then you have to be balls sucker and ass licker to the big Boss(UMNO).Just like MCA,MIC and Gerakan.They have been doing a good job for many years while enriching themselves.They are worst than whores.

  38. //But on the other hand, he said, the attacks on churches after the ruling proved the government right.//

    It does not an Einstein to figure out what the government can do to prove itself right.

  39. //But on the other hand, he said, the attacks on churches after the ruling proved the government right.//

    It does TAKE not an Einstein to figure out what the government can do to prove itself right.

  40. Christians in East Malaysia pray to Oranges and Christians in West Malaysia pray to Apples. Just like the Lilliputians who fought over where to break open eggs– the Little End or the Big End. Will give a big headache to Jesus who had gone to Suchow to sell salted eggs.

  42. How UMNO thought they could climb out of the pit they have dug for PAS & DAP but had themselves fallen into.

    Simply by allowing East Malaysians to continue to use the word while barring the West Malaysians blatantly shows that our gomen is being totally inconsiderate, insensitive to the Church of Jesus Christ. Jesus said ” I will build My Church…” (Matthew 16:18). By allowing one and barring the other shows that the gomen don’t give a damn how the church may be confused.

    And for now we have East Malaysia church & West Malaysia church. So much for Najib’s 1Malaysia. Sigh!

  43. Divide and rule is the order of the day. This new announcement just speaks of the importance of East Malaysia in the next GE. 1Malaysia, what kind of joke is that. Najib, Najib, 1Malaysia hahahahahaha

  44. Whatever you may say about this. Nazri proposition is SMART..Its the best option for BN..The Herald won but the protagonist walked away with face saving..Everyone wins actually for now…

    Najib just got breathing room. Lets see if he can step up on an easy hit like this…

  46. From #32 by rabbit on Thursday , 14 January 2010-8.32 pm

    Rabbit posted the following:

    Professor Tariq Ramadan is a European Muslim who advocates reform in Islam and promotes interfaith dialogue. Born in Switzerland and the grandson of the
    Muslim Brotherhood founder, Hassan Al Banna, the European academic has been named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most important innovators of the century.
    He told ZAKIAH KOYA during his recent visit to Kuala Lumpur.

    Quote:
    Q: You must have heard that there is a request by a Catholic publication, the Herald, to use the word “Allah” when referring to God in its articles in Bahasa
    Malaysia. The government has objected to this. What is your view on this?

    A:(By Prof Tariq Ramadan): If you travel around the world, in the Arab world, Allah is used by all Christians – Coptics and others. To us, Allah is the one God who sent us the prophets
    Moses, Jesus and Muhammad. When we use Arabic, we say “Allah”, when speak in English, we say “God” and when we speak French, we say “Deus”.

    The point is the substance and the substance is one God. We are using the language to say it. Some of the scholars coming from the literalist trend, the
    Salafiya-al Harfiyat, say that Allah is a very specific name.

    The majority of the Muslims are using the word “God” when they speak English and the other words in other languages. Allah is not the God of the Arabs but
    Allah is the only God of all human beings. This is what we are saying.

    When we speak other languages, you change by knowing what you are talking about and we understand that He is like nothing we can imagine Him to be. Therefore
    we cannot describe Him. So when I speak English, I do not have a problem saying “God” and in French I say “Deus” and that’s it.

    When the Christian Arabs speak Arabic, in their Bible, they use “Allah” to speak about God. So, you cannot deprive them using this as this has been the
    case for centuries and in Arabic, God is Allah.

    The Roman Catholics among them do not use “Allah” to describe Jesus. There is no problem there. And my understanding of their general hypothesis is that
    the Trinity is Three in One but they are not confusing the three dimensions of One God. If that is not a problem for them neither is it for us.

    But we must also be aware that the Christians, depending on traditions that they are following, are promoting the concept of the Trinity. Each group has
    its own truth or understanding of it.

    Unquote

    Nazri Abdul Aziz should study the above answer, and tell the confused Muslim leaders that they should first clear their mind of the confusion that other clear minded Muslims would not be confused by Christians using the term Allah as Christian God. The storm was caused by the confused mind of Mamakthir who has little knowledge about Christianity but pretended to be expert. One doubts whether he has true understanding of the Islamic religion he claims he professes. When an Indian, based on Muslims practice of keeping to the race classified according to the race of the father, chose to call himself Malays, that claim is against the practices of Islamic religion. If he said he did, then he did not know the religion.

  49. The word ‘Allah’ is allowed to be used by Christians in Sarawak and Sabah……..This was stated by Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department…..
    ===================================================

    How come BN suddenly becomes so generous allowing the word “Allxh” to be used in East Malaysia? I think the real reason is that BN is afraid of “deposit meltdown” come the 13th GE. BN realizes that if the “East Malaysia deposit” is gone so is the BN federal government. BN is also worried that since PAS has not objected to the High Court ruling (Christians can use the word “Allxh”), non-Muslims will perceive PAS to be more moderate than BN and they will cast their votes to PAS in the 13th GE. Also, if arson attacks continue, non-Muslims will vent their anger at BN and turn to PR in the 13th GE.

    I guess if PAS had objected to the High Court ruling and arson attacks had not taken place, BN would still not change its stance.

  50. Nazri is a very astute & savvy politician. He knows which way the wind is blowing but also know which side is buttering his bread. He’s playing safe by lining his bets with both parties.

    By saying this, he is trying to portray that he is an UMNO politician that “understand” the rakyat.

    When the time comes, it’ll be easier for him to jump ship to save his political career.

  51. Hey guys, not to worry much ,as soon the government would put up posters in all ports of entry .be it seaports,airports,etc, in West Malaysia and East malaysia ,reminding citizens and non citizens ( foreigners) that it’s okay to use ALLAH in prayer in East malaysia and it’s not okay in West malaysia. I also hope Narzi would excuse those senior citizens or elderly persons who have Alzheimer’s disease. Narzi really made me laught out loud (lol) most of the time,hopefully he’s not suffering from some kind of mental sickness.

  53. By ordinary sense one should not blow hot and cold. It is disgusting to say the least. And the resulting ambiguity of such action makes the actor undependable. The laws too have something similar. What is good in law must be lawful and what is bad must be unlawful. In short, one cannot say a thing is lawful and unlawful at the same time. By the same token, what is accepted cannot at the same time be not accepted. Approbation and at the same time, reprobation. That is what the laws forbid. By this legal principle one cannot adopt contradictory or inconsistent stands. So either “the A word” is allowed or is not allowed. Another cowboy shooting from the hip? Yes, I am afraid so.

  54. I’m confused. So it’s up to the govt to decide issue pertaining to religious matters despite court ruling, izzit?
    “Christians in Sarawak and Sabah need not worry over this issue because it is a common tradition there..” So he acknowledges that it is a worrying issue for those involved, east and west malaysia; but y is there an appeal against court ruling ??? DOes the word “A” originate from muslims in Malaysia? Why hold on to something when it’s not yours in the first place??? Amazing bolehland.

  55. LOL!!!!!!!
    I have not got over this yet :

    ” Sultan Selangor mahu kerajaan negeri halang bukan Islam guna kalimah ‘Allah’. ”

    Hahaha! See how silly those UMNO politicians can get. Soon they may even make it law that “Allah” is not allowed mention during Friday prayers by East Malaysian Christians, Friday is reserved solely for Muslims alone.

    KAKAKAKAKKA!!!! jokers!

  57. The churches which conducted the Sunday service/mass in Bahasa Malaysia are mostly attended by East Malaysians workers and students… so this move still would not solve the problem…..The students and workers would bring their Bible (Al-Kitab) from Sabah and Sarawak too…..

    The goverment should instead educate the muslims not to be too fanatics or become religous extremist….. The should learn the origin of Christians

    Christians believed God have created Adam and Eve. Muslims too believed Allah has created Adam and Eve …

    Christians prophets are Abraham, Moses, Noah,….

    Islams too recognised Abraham(Ibrahim), Moses(musa) , Noah and prophets…

    So is Christian God is different from Muslim’s God?

    The only different is their concepts of God….. and off-course Muslims are allowed to practice poligamy which is not allowed in the religion of Christian,,,

    But the real issue here is Allah and God -was it not referring to the same god?

    A child need protection because it is still weak…. Poor people need protection because they are weak too… so only the weak ones need to be protected..

    But now why a go’s followers need to be too protective on their god? Isn’t the God supposed to be most powerful and no earthy forces can harm Him?

  58. ” Probably the people in sabah and sarawak will give them the vote la in the coming election. ” – baochingtian at 6.23 pm

    – too late, much damage has been done; even doing the Umrah won’t save the cousins, fatso and the Pangkor pirate!

  59. Nazri says that in our unique country the government has to act if a certain lawful action violates the sensitivities of a group of people.

    His example is the stamping of a severed cow head. It is legal but offends the Hindus. So the government has to act.

    He then argues that the Allah issue is analogous.

    But he disregards a crucial factor that distinguishes the two cases: whether one can justifiably claims that an action one finds offending is indeed offending.

    If he thinks that this factor is irrelevant, does it mean that the government should take actions to stop Azan or the broadcast of Islamic programmes on national tv if a group of non-Muslims claim that they feel sensitive about these perfectly lawful practices?

  60. Nazri: Now we have evidence that this led to violence….So Catholics should not use the term.

    An ordinary Malaysian: Azan and Islamic programmes on TV should be banned beacuse they will lead to violence.
    An ordinary judge: There is no such violence.
    A o M: wait and see…
    After two weeks…
    The Star: 3 mosques have been vandalised in connection with the dispute about Azan and Islamic TV programmes…

    Nazri: We now have evidence…

  62. The Umnoputras are really running out of idea about how to rule this nation which has been troubled by several arson criminals and vandalism criminals who try to fish in the troubled water. Therefore the Umnoputras have to borrow the idea of “1 Nation 2 Systems” from the late Chinese Communist Great Mentor, Deng Xiao Peng.

    Bolehland now has decided to adopt a new idea of “1 Malaysia 2 Constitutions” in order to expedite on the “Allah” usage issue! Dr Mahathir said, “Really Malaysia should revert to being a British colony again.” It seems that Malaysia does not need to revert to being a Bristish colony again because such an Umnoputra genius as Nazri has already picked up all the dirty tricks and gimmicks of the Bristish colonists, especially the tricks of the so-called “Divide and Rule”, in order to divide the Malaysians into two separate segments!

    Bangsai, “1 Malaysia 2 Constitutions!” Now Malaysia has a selective, divisive law system which says that whether a law is applicable to one offence or not actually depends on whether the offender is an East-Malaysian or a West-Malaysian! Perhaps the BAR Council has to retrain all the law practitioners in Malaysia in order for them to understand better about how the system of “1 Malaysia 2 Constitutions” is going to function in the Bolehland!

  64. ……..“Christians in Sarawak and Sabah need not worry over this issue because it is a common tradition there. I have been to an Iban church service and I heard the word ‘Allah’ used there,” he said.

    However, ‘Allah’ is not allowed to be used by churches in Semanunjung Malaysia and Christians from the two states have to respect this ruling when they are in Semenanjung, Nazri said…………..

    So Malaya is a difference country from Sarawak & Sabah…..you need to respect the rule in that country called Malaya…

    KONONNYA 1MALAYSIA!!

    Perhaps a new referendum should be held in Sabah & Sarawak for the two state’s people to determine whether they still want to remain in Malaysia?…. The first one was done before the two states form Malaysia with Malaya…

  65. “If he thinks that this factor is irrelevant, does it mean that the government should take actions to stop Azan or the broadcast of Islamic programmes on national tv if a group of non-Muslims claim that they feel sensitive about these perfectly lawful practices?” (Lee Wang Yen)

    Welcome back, Professor Lee!

    Most likely Nazri will give you a reply, “Your question is irrelevant because Azan and the broadcast of Islamic programmes on national TV are the Islamic religious affairs which are put under the jurisdiction of the State Rulers and the Yang Dipertuan Agong! Your case is not justiceable because it is the discretionary power of the State Rulers or the Yang Dipertuan Agong to decide whether Azan and TV Broadcast of the Islamic programmes should be banned or not!”

  66. A particular action is ‘justiceable’ if it can be determined to be lawful or unlawful on court.

    According to Nazri, the question of whether something is justiceable is irrelevant, since he says that a perfectly lawful action is ‘actionable’ if it violates sensitivities.

    So the postulated reply by Nazri misses the point.

  67. The question of jurisdiction is tricky. Is there such a thing as exclusive jurisdiction? Syariah courts may have excusive jurisdiction over Islamic matters that only affect Muslims. But when a case involves both Muslims and non-Muslims, there seems to be an overlapping of jurisdiction.

  68. “But when a case involves both Muslims and non-Muslims, there seems to be an overlapping of jurisdiction.” (Lee Wang Yen)

    If the case which involves both Muslims and non-Muslims can be put solely under the jurisdiction of the Civil Court, I believe many Christians in Malaysia will want to marry a Malay girl and then get the wife to convert into a Christian. At least at the current stage, to ask a Civil Court to interfere in cases involving both Muslims and non-Muslims is still not possible. Otherwise, Lina Joy would have been already enjoying her family life living as a Christian in Malaysia! However, I would certainly like to see this thing be made possible in the future, probably through our continual fighting for the prevalence of the concept of “Separation of State and Mosque” in Malaysia!

  69. UmnoUtusans say the violence against the churches had proven them right that the issue could cause disharmony ( make some hotheads go violent )

    So to be right, UmnoUtusans may do something.

    Who then is the culprit ? The answer is crystal clear !!!

  70. Not solely – note the term ‘overlapping’.

    Previous rulings involving disputes of jurisdiction might have favoured the syariah courts. But whether these are fair rulings given Malaysian laws and whether they are constitutional are points of contention.

  71. “But whether these are fair rulings given Malaysian laws and whether they are constitutional are points of contention.” (Lee Wang Yen)

    I believe “fair rulings” can only be made possible after such people of good and effective logical thinking as Jeffrey or Lee Wang Yen has been appointed to be the Chief Justice of Federal Court of Malaysia. In lieu of such a good and effective logical thinking person sitting at the helm of Federal Court, the best thing the non-Muslims can do is to pray that they will never get into the trouble of litigation involving them with a Muslim in Malaysia.

  72. When Muslims in other countries say that there is no problem for “Allxh” to be used in other languages that have the term “Allxh” as in the case for the Malay and Sikh languages, the UMNOputras countered back: “Our landscape is different from other countries. Malays here are different from other countries”. LOL, now instead of “Allxh” being a universal God, He has now being downgraded as a racist God that can be patented by UMNO.

    If that is so, then the Arabs can also say that the Malay language should not used any Arabic words in Malay or to claim Islam as their religion because Prophet Muhammad is not a Malay. Or the Indians can also forbid the Malays from using thousands of terms taken from Sanskrit. Or the English and American can also prevent Malays from using thousand upon thousands of English terms.

    Then the Malay language would be reduced with only groans, growls and grunts for communication.

  73. It is a very desperate statement made for political expediency. Nazri knows that these latest comments of his are illogical and stupid. But UMNO/BN had to do something or they will lose their “fixed deposit”. BN/UMNO is feeling the rising anger in E. Malaysia over their huge blunder and is desperately doing damage control. But they succeed only in digging a deeper hole. What do they want to do now?

    1) Have two Constitutions? One for E. malaysia and one for W. Malaysia?
    2) Have a huge box at all W. Malaysia airports reminding E. Malaysians to drop their bibles with the forbidden word as soon as they land in W.Malaysia?
    3) Arrest E. Malaysians who are talking among themselves and utter the forbidden word when they are in W. malaysia?
    4) Confusing all the future generations of young children in East and West Malaysia? and sow the seeds for more religious conflicts in the future?

    Until and unless UMNO/BN can accept that they must stop politicising this matter, it could only get worse.

  74. There is a way to find out these ban to use the word is man-made or god-made.

    It is east malaysia call, pick up the phone and call to tell that if it is not legalised to use in whole malaysia, we want to withdraw from B&.

    You can find out the ban is man-made or god-made.

  75. UMNO will do anything under the sun for the sake of winning votes. East Malaysia has been their votes banks and that is why they are allowed to sue the word “Allah”, not because of anything else. It is so damn obvious as this decision is an after thought.
    UMNO is just a clown but instead of jesting, it is making a mockery of everything including religion. I think the whole world is laughing at us and soon will avoid us like lepers.

  77. Ppl said dat Umno B hv no principle, just a political animal n racist party dat will do anyting 2 hold on 2 power 2 continue 2 enrich Umnoputras n their cronies
    Proof? This is it – dis nonsense fr nazi
    Basically it is OK 2 refer 2 God as Allah, but Umno B just wanted 2 capitalise on d issue
    N came out with dis in East, Allah = God, in West, Allah not = God, hallelujah, Amen

  78. No evidence means no evidence. Justice Lau was satisfied that umno could produce no evidence of violent reaction at the time of hearing. Violent reaction after the hearing at the instigation of jib (“we cannot prevent people from protesting in mosques”) cannot be used at all. One cannot use one’s own wrong-doing as justification of one’s act (here the act is the ban on use of the A word). In any event the negative reaction (by umno) was in fact overwhelmed by a greater positive reaction by the general malaysian public (including a large number of muslims) in support of allowing use of the word by non-muslims.

  81. You travel to Sarawak and Sabah…..you need to bring your passport…like going to another country in the first 25 years. It was a marriage of convenience.
    Today…it is still am marriage on convenience…but UMNO BARU succeeded in buying up top politicians…to stay in power….making the marriage in convenience…so important to UMNO BARU now…becoming the king pins…to their survivals.
    But God is great…the matter concerning the word “Allah” will kill their chances to get the man in the street..Christians voters..all against UMNO..even though Nazri tried to contradict what was happening..to pacify them…yet…churches are still being attacked in Sarawak. UMNO build a crop of fanatics with their dirty religion politics…and is getting the results..they asked for…..against them totally.
    So we can safely say…UMNO will loose Sarawak…playing God…not need for PR to work hard to capture the State.
    UMNO is divided……never united and Najib is powerless.

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