Bishop flays gov't's reason for stamping 'Al-Kitab'
Terence NettoPublished: Mar 23, 2011 11:03 AM | Updated: Mar 23, 2011 12:13 PM
Catholic Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing said today the fear of spawning confusion among followers of one religion is no reason to prevent adherents of another faith from legitimate practice of their own.
Catholic Bishop Paul Tan Chee Ing said today the fear of spawning confusion among followers of one religion is no reason to prevent adherents of another faith from legitimate practice of their own.
Speaking to Malaysiakini in his capacity as bishop of the Malacca-Johor diocese, Paul Tan, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, said that such caveats were "unreasonable constraints on the freedom of religion guaranteed in the federal constitution."
The prelate was responding to reports that Selangor mufti Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid had joined his Perak counterpart, Harussani Zakaria, in opposing the release of 'Al-Kitab', 35,000 copies of which have been impounded at the ports in Kuching and Port Klang.
The 'Al-Kitab', which is the Indonesian version of the Christian Bible, is banned in Malaysia because of its use of ‘Allah’ as the term for God.
Christians in Sabah and Sarawak have been using ‘Allah’ as the term for God for the better part of eight decades during which their study of scriptural texts was based on the 'Al-Kitab', which freely uses the term.
Recourse to the 'Al-Kitab' became problematic on the peninsula when the government in 1986 confined the use of theological terms, such as ‘Allah’, to Muslims only.
Tacitly, Sabah and Sarawak Christians were exempted from this stricture but when Christians on the peninsula, who had always chafed at the restriction, posed a legal challenge to the ban, the High Court in late 2009 ruled in their favour.
"The High Court decision has rendered nugatory the 1986 government ban on the use of the term and though a stay has been granted, the dissemination of scripture among the faithful cannot be held hostage to the vagaries of the judicial process," opined Bishop Paul.
"That the term has never been the sole property of Muslims is another imperative for the unrestricted dissemination of the 'Al-Kitab'."
False argument
Further, Bishop Paul argued there are at least three surah in the Quran that the "People of the Book", among whom Christians are included, "worship the one true Allah".
"To add to the false argument for exclusivity the one about Christian use of ‘Allah’ as liable to cause confusion among Muslims would be akin to gilding the lily and then shredding it," he asserted.
"These arguments in their totality infringe Christian Malaysians' constitutionally guaranteed freedom to practise their religion and insult the intelligence of the Muslim believer.
"When complication becomes this excessive, I would prayerfully advise that we opt for a final simplicity: let's plump for the constitutionally guaranteed freedom to practice one's faith, unfettered by unsustainable restriction and self-demeaning fear."
Speaking to Malaysiakini in his capacity as bishop of the Malacca-Johor diocese, Paul Tan, who is also president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, said that such caveats were "unreasonable constraints on the freedom of religion guaranteed in the federal constitution."The prelate was responding to reports that Selangor mufti Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid had joined his Perak counterpart, Harussani Zakaria, in opposing the release of 'Al-Kitab', 35,000 copies of which have been impounded at the ports in Kuching and Port Klang.
The 'Al-Kitab', which is the Indonesian version of the Christian Bible, is banned in Malaysia because of its use of ‘Allah’ as the term for God.
Christians in Sabah and Sarawak have been using ‘Allah’ as the term for God for the better part of eight decades during which their study of scriptural texts was based on the 'Al-Kitab', which freely uses the term.
Recourse to the 'Al-Kitab' became problematic on the peninsula when the government in 1986 confined the use of theological terms, such as ‘Allah’, to Muslims only.
Tacitly, Sabah and Sarawak Christians were exempted from this stricture but when Christians on the peninsula, who had always chafed at the restriction, posed a legal challenge to the ban, the High Court in late 2009 ruled in their favour.
"The High Court decision has rendered nugatory the 1986 government ban on the use of the term and though a stay has been granted, the dissemination of scripture among the faithful cannot be held hostage to the vagaries of the judicial process," opined Bishop Paul.
"That the term has never been the sole property of Muslims is another imperative for the unrestricted dissemination of the 'Al-Kitab'."
False argument
Further, Bishop Paul argued there are at least three surah in the Quran that the "People of the Book", among whom Christians are included, "worship the one true Allah".
"To add to the false argument for exclusivity the one about Christian use of ‘Allah’ as liable to cause confusion among Muslims would be akin to gilding the lily and then shredding it," he asserted.
"These arguments in their totality infringe Christian Malaysians' constitutionally guaranteed freedom to practise their religion and insult the intelligence of the Muslim believer.
"When complication becomes this excessive, I would prayerfully advise that we opt for a final simplicity: let's plump for the constitutionally guaranteed freedom to practice one's faith, unfettered by unsustainable restriction and self-demeaning fear."
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