Court rules Catholic Church cannot use “Allah” in newspaper

From Bloomberg: 

Malaysia’s top court dismissed a final bid by the Catholic church to use the word “Allah” in its newspaper, highlighting a debate on non-Muslims using the word in a climate of rising religious tensions.

The Federal Court will not review the case because there was no procedural unfairness when it ruled in June that the weekly Herald Malaysia newspaper could not refer to God in that way, Judge Abdull Hamid Embong said in a unanimous verdict handed down by a panel of five judges Wednesday in Putrajaya, outside of Kuala Lumpur.

“The decision made today is very disappointing,” Father Lawrence Andrew, founding editor of the Herald, told reporters Wednesday. “But we respect thefederal constitution and only want peace and harmony for this country, that we love very much. Therefore, we hope the rights and faith of the minorities in this country will not be oppressed.”

While the ruling only applies to one newspaper, it risks creating friction over religious rights and ethnic tolerance in Malaysia, a Muslim-majority nation that has a sizable Chinese and Indian minority. Prime Minister Najib Razak’s party, which has ruled since independence in 1957, has brought in policies to shore up support with its ethnic Malay Muslim base since its worst-ever showing in the 2013 election.

“A decision that denies Christians the right to practice their faith in the national language is a sign of intolerance and extremism in Malaysia and a denial of basic religious freedom,” said Bridget Welsh, a senior research associate at the Center for East Asia Democratic Studies at the National Taiwan University. “There are real tensions over basic religious rights in Malaysia.”

Read more.