Penang churches lodge reports over ‘Allah’ banners
Three Catholic churches in Penang have lodged police reports after controversial banners bearing the word "Allah" surfaced outside several churches yesterday morning.
The Star reported that representatives from Church of the Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus, Church of the Assumption in Lebuh Farquhar and St John Britto in Jalan Sungai Pinang lodged reports following the incident.
George Town OCPD Asst Comm Gan Kong Meng said the matter is being investigated under the Sedition Act.
He said police was studying CCTV footage and had stepped up patrols outside churches.
Church of the Immaculate Conception parish council chairman Baldeev Singh, who lodged a report after removing the banner, said no one had seen the banner being put up next to the church’s main gate.
Church of the Assumption parishioner John David said he saw the banner when arrived for morning mass at 8.30am, while St John Britto Church chairman Michael Susay told The Star he was not sure why his church was targeted.
The banners, which read "Allah is Great, Jesus is the son of Allah", were put up in two other churches - Victory Lutheran Church and Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Butterworth.
Father Victor Louis, parish priest at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, however did not want to lodge a report, saying he did not want to make it an issue.
Louis had earlier advised Christians not to react to the banners to prevent any religious tension.
"There is no point reacting to this. We also do not want to play up this issue," he said.
The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that Penang Umno Youth and the Jelutong Umno division had also lodged police reports on the matter.
Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng condemned the act, saying the banners were intended to spark tensions between Muslims and Christians.
Tensions between Muslim and Christian groups have been on a high since 2009, after the Home Ministry tried to ban Catholic weekly Herald from using the word Allah in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
The ministry's decision had been shot down by the Kuala Lumpur High Court, but the Court of Appeal in October 2013 overturned this decision.
Following this, there have been calls by several quarters to impose a law prohibiting non-Muslims from using several Arabic words.
In Selangor, 25 words, including "Allah", are banned to non-Muslims under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment.
In Penang, the state mufti decreed in 2004 that 40 words, including "Allah", "masjid", "surau" and "haji", cannot be used by non-Muslims. The ban on the words, enforced in 2010, are provided under sub section 48 (3) and (4) of the Penang Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004 as exclusive to Muslims.
Earlier this month, the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) seized 320 copies of Malay and Iban Bibles from the Bible Society of Malaysia. - January 27, 2014.
