The Court of Appeal has come under flak for its ruling to bar Catholic weekly The Herald from using ‘Allah’ to refer to God in its Malay edition.Lawyer Syahredzan Johan (left) said judges should stop being judges if they cannot ‘remember their oath to uphold the constitution’.
‘Judges should remember the oath they took to uphold the constitution. If they can’t do that, then stop being judges,’ Syahredzan tweeted shortly after the ruling was delivered this morning.
Former de facto law minister Zaid Ibrahim also waded into the discussion with sharp comments.
‘Judges need only to apply the law, but in Malaysia they have other extraneous duties to the people (and) to the politicians,’ he tweeted.
He criticised the court’s finding that the use of ‘Allah’ is not an integral part of the Christian faith.
“Now we have Muslim judges who are experts in Christian religion and theology. They must have spent sometime in the Vatican,” Zaid (right) tweeted with obvious sarcasm.
Similarly critical were Lawyers for Liberty, who suggested on their Twitter account that the judiciary has failed the people yet again.“Time and time again we have been let down by the judiciary who only pay(s) lip-service to the constitution,” the NGO
said.‘Know any Christians in Borneo?’
DAP’s Serdang MP Ong Kian Ming (below), reacting to the finding that ‘Allah’ is not an integral part of Christianity, tweeted: ‘Wow, the judges should talk to their Christian friends in East Malaysia.’
Umno vice-president and Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein was among the first top party leaders to support the ruling.
‘Alhamdullilah, the truth will always be the truth (benar tetap benar),’ he tweeted.
His reaction drew criticism from the DAP’s Beruas MP Ngeh Koo Ham, who tweeted that the comment is ‘shocking’ coming from the son of former premier Hussein Onn, who is a ‘highly respected and moderate PM’.
“Please respect the federal constitution which guarantees freedom for all religion to be practised in peace and harmony,” Ngeh replied.
Questions raised
Some netizens questioned if the ruling means that ‘Allah’ cannot be mentioned by non-Muslims at all.
‘
History books in school contain ‘Allah’ too. So now non-Muslims don’t need to study history classes too,’ Twitter user K Kumar, said.
Jason Lee said ‘non-Muslims will now not sing the Selangor state anthem. Don’t say we are not patriotic’.
The DAP’s Subang Jaya assemblyperson Hannah Yeoh (right) asked if Ministers in the Prime Minister’s Department Paul Low and Idris Jala will still defend the government.
‘Still believe in working with Najib for transformation?’ she asked the two ministers.
Veteran activist Hishamuddin Rais also said on Twitter that ‘Allah’ has now been made ‘a member of the Ketuanan Melayu party’, in a thinly-veiled reference to Umno.
