Jakarta Globe – AFP, Jun 23, 2014
Malaysian authorities say that using ‘Allah’ in non-Muslim literature could confuse Muslims and entice them to convert, which is a crime in Malaysia. (Bloomberg Photo/ Goh Seng Chong) |
The
Catholic Church had been seeking to reverse a government ban on it referring to
God by the Arabic word “Allah” in the local Malay-language edition of its
Herald newspaper.
But a
seven-judge panel in the administrative capital Putrajaya ruled a lower court
decision siding with the government stood.
“It [the
Court of Appeal] applied the correct test, and it is not open for us to
interfere,” chief justice Arifin Zakaria said. “Hence, the application is
dismissed.”
S.
Selvarajah, one of the church’s lawyers, said the decision meant the end of the
court case.
“It’s a
blanket ban. Non-Muslims cannot use the word,” he told AFP.
Outside the
court, which was cordoned off, about a hundred Muslim activists shouted “Allahu
Akbar” or “God is great”, and held banners that read “Uniting to defend the
name of Allah” ahead of the verdict.
The dispute
first erupted in 2007 when the Home Ministry threatened to revoke the
publishing permit of the Herald for using the Arabic word in its Malay-language
edition.
The church
launched a court case to challenge the directive, arguing “Allah” had been used
for centuries in Malay-language Bibles and other literature to refer to “God”
outside of Islam.
But
authorities say using “Allah” in non-Muslim literature could confuse Muslims
and entice them to convert, a crime in Malaysia.
An appeals
court last October reinstated the ban, overturning a lower court’s 2009 ruling
in favor of the church that had led to a spate of attacks on houses of worship.
Agence France-Presse
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