Members of Sidang Injil Borneo (Evangelical Church of Borneo) perform a traditional dance in this file image. (Photo supplied)
By UCA News reporter
May 19 2023
An Evangelical church in Malaysia has decided to discontinue its 16-year-long legal battle against a 1986 government ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ in Christian publications for its Bahasa Malaysia-speaking members.
Sidang Injil Borneo (Evangelical Church of Borneo) based in Sabah state announced in a notice its decision to discontinue the court case against the Home Ministry, Malay Mail reported on May 17.
The court case was filed after the Home Ministry seized and withheld the church’s Christian education materials that carried the word “Allah” in 2007.
Allah is the word for god in the local language, Bahasa Malaysia, but Muslims maintain non-Muslims should not use it because it is exclusively reserved for the God of Muslims.
The church filed the case after the Home Ministry refused to return three boxes of books, only meant for the church’s children and not for sale, the report said.
The notice of discontinuance was confirmed by the church’s president Reverend Jerry Dusing.
The case was one of three high-profile cases from the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christian community challenging the government’s ban on the use of the word “Allah” in Christian publications in Malaysia.
In March last year, following a legal battle for more than a decade, Malaysia’s High Court allowed the use of words including “Allah” by Christians and other non-Muslim communities for religious and educational purposes.
During the ruling, High Court judge Nor Bee Ariffin said the ban conflicted with the constitutional rights of religious freedom.
“There is no such power to restrict religious freedom under Article 11. Religious freedom is absolutely protected even in times of threat to public order,” the judge noted.
The verdict came 13 years after Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, a Christian from Sarawak state, filed a petition with the court for her right to use the word “Allah” for religious practices.
She moved court after the Malaysian government seized eight educational compact discs (CDs) that contained the word “Allah” at an airport in 2008 on her return from Indonesia.
In 2007, the Home Ministry banned the local Catholic weekly, the Catholic Herald, from using the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
The Catholic Church won at the High Court in 2009, but the Court of Appeal in 2013 and the Federal Court in a 4-3 decision in 2014 ruled in favor of the Home Ministry and the government, Malay Mail reported.
On January 21, 2015, the Federal Court’s five-judge panel declined to have a fresh panel of judges review the 4-3 decision, it added.
With the Evangelicals dropping the case, there are no outstanding court cases involving Christians seeking the right to use the word “Allah.”
Malay-speaking Christians have been using Allah to address their God for generations, the report said.
Research studies found that the word “Allah” has been documented as having been used in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia in Christian publications since the 17th century.
However, Islamic radical groups opposed the use of the word by non-Muslims.
The ban on the use of Allah by non-Muslims was introduced during the time of an UMNO-led coalition government that ruled Malaysia since its independence from Britain in 1957. The coalition was ousted in the historic election of 2018.
In 2010, amid trials in Jill’s case, racial Islamic groups staged violent protests in which they firebombed and vandalized 11 churches in Malaysia.
Malaysia is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation with an estimated population of 33.5 million. More than 60 percent of the population are Muslims while Christians make up about 10 percent.
The majority of Christians are based in Sabah and Sarawak states, where they make up about two-thirds of the population. – UCA News
