Selangor Umno has banned members and urged Islamic-based NGO in the state against carrying out a plan to hold assemblies in front of churches tomorrow.

Selangor Umno chief Noh Omar said the move was to avoid misinterpretations among the people on the issue and to protect harmony.

"In fighting for the term 'Allah', we urge against holding assemblies or protests because it can threaten the harmony of religious freedom in Selangor," he told a media conference in Shah Alam today.

Prior to this, several Umno branches and Muslim NGO in the state had planned to hold assemblies in front of churches tomorrow to protest against the statement of the editor of Catholic weekly The Herald , Pastor Lawrence Andrew on the use of the word 'Allah'.

Despite Selangor Umno not going to be involved in the protest tomorrow, the Sekretariat Soladiriti Ummah Selangor said that it would proceed with the rally.

On Dec 27, Andrew, through The Malaysian Insider , said Catholic churches in Selangor would continue to use the word 'Allah' in its weekly congregations in Bahasa Malaysia although the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had sent a reminder on the ban on its use by non-Muslims.

The assemblies were also aimed at pressing the pastor to withdraw his statement and apologise openly to Muslims after he was said to have defied the Selangor sultan.

 

The Sultan of Selangor, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, prior to this, commanded all the people, specifically in Selangor, regardless of race and background, to obey and abide by the ban on the use of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims as found in Section 9, Part 1, Non-Islamic Religious Enactment (Restricting propagation among Muslims) 1988.

"We demand that Pastor Lawrence apologise for his statement. If hard-pressed, the Selangor Umno leadership will hold a Selangor Malay assembly to defend the enactment and have the sultan's command respected," he stressed.

Noh, who is also ex-agriculture and agro-based industry minister, fully supported the action of Jais in seizing more than 300 bibles in Bahasa Malaysia and Iban containing the word 'Allah' during a raid at the Malaysian Bible Association in Jalan Gasing, Petaling Jaya on Thursday.

The issue also prompted 50 representatives of Kota Raja 4B Youth Movement and the Klang Jaya Flats Resident Association to hold a peaceful demonstration at Klang Jaya Flats today demanding the pastor to abide by the court decision on the issue and urging Jais to action on the issue quickly before it worsened.

    

Police reports lodged

Meanwhile in Putrajaya, 16 NGOs lodged police reports against Andrew at the Putrajaya Police Headquarters who had called on all churches in Selangor to continue to use the word 'Allah'.

The head of the Malaysian delegation of the Federation of Islamic Organisations to the Process of Universal Periodic Review in Geneva, Azril Mohd Amin said the groups involved could not dispute and follow the laws of other countries in this issue.

Azril, who is also the vice-president Muslim Lawyers Association said the government must take stern action on any demand by irresponsible groups who wanted the word ‘Allah’ to continue to be used by Christians, under Article 31 and 11(4) of the Federal Constitution which stated Islam as the federal religion.

In Kuala Lumpur, Jalur Tiga president Hasan Mohamed Ali, who was also a former deputy chairman of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), said the action by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) in seizing the Bible in the Malay language and Iban for containing the word 'Allah' as appropriate according to its fundamental enforcement role under the state enactment.

He said everyone must respect the decision of the Court of Appeal last year which prohibited the printing of the Catholic weekly, The Herald, in using the word ‘Allah’ and the message by the Sultan of Selangor who stressed that the word was only for use by Muslims.

- Bernama