Catholic weekly Herald has not backpedaled on using the term 'Allah' in its publication but merely put it on hold pending the disposal of court proceedings, said its editor Father Lawrence Andrew ( below ).

government appeal on allah case 060110 herald editor father lawrence andrew 02 The priest told Malaysiakini this when asked to clarify a report which appeared in Malay daily Berita Harian today under the heading: ' Herald agrees to stop using Allah' whereas a sub-heading read: 'Publisher realises responsibility to safeguard peace'.

"What I said was twisted... what I said is not something new, the decision was made when the AG (Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail) filed the stay application," said Andrew.

He added that the publication decided to respect the granting of the stay order to the Home Ministry pending appeal.

Herald , which is printed in four languages - English, Malay, Chinese and Tamil - has been using the word 'Allah' as a translation for 'God' in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The matter ended up in court after the Home Ministry prohibited the publication from doing so.

On Dec 31, Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan had ruled that pursuant to Articles 11 and 12 of the Federal Constitution, Herald had the constitutional right to use the word in respect of instruction and education of the congregation in the Christian religion.

                    

She also said that pursuant to Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution, it was an offence for non-Muslims to use the word 'Allah' to Muslims to propagate the religion but it was not an offence for non-Muslims to use the word to non-Muslims for the purpose of religion.

National security

The ruling, however, drew flak from various Muslim organisations. Since Friday, nine churches and a convent school in several states have been attacked, the majority of them with petrol bombs.

Except for one church in Kuala Lumpur, the others suffered minimal damage. Both Barisan Nasional and Pakatan Rakyat leaders have condemned the attacks.

On Feb 16, Archbishop Murphy Pakiam had filed for a judicial review on the usage of the word 'Allah' in the Catholic church's publication for the period of Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2009.

The suit named the Home Ministry and the government as respondents and claimed that the word 'Allah' was not exclusive to Islam.

The home minister, in ordering the ban of the word in the publication which has a circulation of 14,000 copies a week, had justified it on grounds of national security and to avoid misunderstanding and confusion among Muslims.

The word 'Allah' is commonly used among indigenous Christian tribes in Sabah and Sarawak, most of whom speak Bahasa Malaysia.

The basis of the church's argument was that the ban goes against the principle of freedom of religion and religious practices as outlined in the Federal Constitution.