Press Statement by MCA Central Committee member Sdr Loh Seng Kok (Deputy Chairman of MCA Publicity Bureau)
The remarks by Home Minister Dato’ Seri Hishamuddin bin Tun Hussein Onn as reported in The Malaysian Insider (1 August 2010) that he “regrets the ‘Allah’ ban” and that “We (Home Ministry) are in an uncharted landscape which will haunt us for a very long time… We should have let the sleeping dogs lie” do suggest that the Home Minister is fully aware that forbidding “Allah” has turned into a divisive national issue which can become an Archilles Heel against Barisan Nasional.
MCA therefore urges Dato’ Seri Hishamuddin to use all the authority vested in him as Home Minister to rescind the ban. By doing so, the Home Minister will be respected as a Barisan Nasional leader who looks after rights and interests of all Malaysians, including protecting the Constitutional rights of minorities. Moreover, by withdrawing the prohibition, the Home Minister will be able to abate the issue which has already been politicized unnecessarily.
Making illegal, restricting or modifying the usage of the terminology does not affect only Christians, but it should be viewed from a Malaysian perspective as Sikhs and Hindus too will be denied their Constitutional right as there are references of “Allah” in the Guru Granth Sahib of the Sikh and Veda, the Scriptures of the of the Sikh and Hindu communities respectively.
To only allow “Allah” in East Malaysia reeks of 1 country, 2 systems which negates the fact that about 100,000 native Sarawak and Sabah Christians are now based on the Peninsular. Moreover, Christian orang aslis on the Peninsular also refer to God as “Allah”.
Malaysia would also make it to the world news for all the wrong reasons if Indonesian Christians and Middle Eastern tourists like Palestinian, Arab or Lebanese Christians who also refer to God as “Allah” and are citizsens of countries with a huge Muslim majority were to have any of their religious publications confiscated upon arrival at our airports or seaports.
Considering that this Malaysian Insider article came under the “Most Read in last 24 hours” category and the responses that it generated disagree to the ban, this shows that this Constitutional matter which is subject to a few court cases attracts many netizens and will affect voting trends. Prohibiting “Allah” by non-Muslims has turned into a polarizing issue and must cease. MCA therefore, calls on the Home Ministry to retract the ban.
MCA therefore reiterates our position on “Allah”, i.e.
1) No confusion arises when one’s spiritual conviction is strong
2) Nobody can copyright “Allah” nor claim monopoly
3) Historical fact that “Allah” predates Islam
Meanwhile, MCA urges the Home Minister to allow the importations of the Al-Kitab and other religious materials as issued in a letter by the then Ministry of Internal Security in 2005, so long as the printed materials contain the words “Christian publication” and carry an image of the “cross (t).”
LOH SENG KOK
Member of MCA Central Committee,
Member of MCA Presidential Council,
Deputy Chairman of MCA Publicity Bureau
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