Malaysia govt challenges ruling letting Christians use the word 'Allah'
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KUALA LUMPUR • The Malaysian government yesterday appealed against a court's decision to overturn a decades-old official ban on Christians in the Muslim-majority country using "Allah" to refer to God.
The word has long been divisive in multi-ethnic Malaysia, with Christians complaining that attempts to stop them from using it highlight the growing influence of conservative Islam.
But some Muslims accuse the sizeable Christian minority of overstepping boundaries, and the subject has fuelled religious tensions and sparked violence over the years.
Last week, the Kuala Lumpur High Court ruled that Christians can use the word "Allah" in publications, siding with a member of the minority and striking down a ban that dated back to 1986. A judge ruled that the ban was unconstitutional, as Malaysia's Constitution guarantees freedom of religion. But the government lodged a challenge at the Court of Appeal, saying it was "not satisfied" with the ruling, according to documents seen by Agence France-Presse.
The authorities have long argued that allowing non-Muslims to use the word "Allah" could be confusing, and entice Muslims to convert.
The case began 13 years ago when officials seized religious materials in the Malay language that contained the word "Allah" from a Christian at Kuala Lumpur airport. The woman - Ms Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, from the Borneo state of Sarawak - then launched a legal challenge against the ban on Christians using the term.
Malaysia has largely avoided overt religious conflict in recent decades, but tensions have been rising. In 2014, a church was hit with petrol bombs, while the Islamic authorities have seized Bibles containing the word "Allah".
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
