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Court of Appeal Judgement on the use of the word ‘Allah’

Media Statement by Dr. Ong Kian Ming, MP for Serdang, on the Court of Appeal Judgement on the use of the word Allah

As a Member of Parliament and a Malaysian Christian, I am saddened and disappointed by the decision of the Court of Appeal to overturn the High Court decision that the ban on the use of the word Allah by the Catholic Church publication, the Herald, in Bahasa Melayu, was unconstitutional.

The reasons given by the presiding judges in the grounds of judgement were especially disappointing and have far reaching application beyond the usage of the word Allah in one publication by the Catholic Church. In fact, the grounds of judgement can easily be extended to ban the word Allah in all Christian publications, including the bible of the Al-Kitab, whether it is in Bahasa Melayu, Iban, or any other language.

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Celebrating an Especially Meaningful Hari Raya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year’s Hari Raya celebration is an especially meaningful one for myself. Other than being a newly elected Member of Parliament in a constituency with more than 50,000 Malay voters, this will be the first Hari Raya where I followed the fasting schedule during the month of Ramadhan.[1] I reaped not just physical and spiritual rewards during the fasting month but also benefitted from experiencing the challenges and the feeling of solidarity with a larger community. I embraced this learning opportunity and gained tremendously from it. Sadly, at the national level, many opportunities that could have been moments of teaching and understanding were lost as a result of political expediency.

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