Press Statement By DAP Secretary-General And MP For Bagan Lim Guan Eng In Kuala Lumpur On 25.6.2014.
DAP expressed grave disappointment at the Federal Court decision on 23 June 2014, in refusing to grant the Catholic weekly The Herald’s application for leave, to appeal the Court of Appeal decision which upheld a Home Ministry ban against it from using the word ‘Allah’. By refusing to even grant leave to appeal, the Federal Court not only negates the right to seek justice in the highest law courts but also denies the right to be heard on a fundamental legal and constitutional right of freedom or religion and freedom of expression.
What is equally disappointing is the BN Federal government’s announcement that it is committed to the 10-point solution, mooted on 2 April 2011 by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala, allowing Malaysian Christians to still use the word ‘Allah’ in church. This is the contradictory and even hypocritical position by the BN Federal government that it respects and asks all parties to abide by the Federal Court decision but that the court ruling only applies to The Herald newspaper’s use of the word ‘Allah’ and not the right of Christians to use “Allah” in church.
Clearly this contradictory and confusing position of the word “Allah” can be used but “Allah” can also not be used is made with the view of the forthcoming Sarawak state general elections. The BN Federal government has no record whatsoever of keeping its promises in Sabah and Sarawak. In Sabah its promises of rotating the Chief Minister’s post amongst different communities was scrapped and abolished. Similarly its promises of a higher oil royalty or even 1Malaysia price to have equal pricing for Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Sarawak has not been fulfilled.
If the BN Federal government promises that it will respect the 10-point solution in that Allah can still be used in church, why did they ban it in The Herald in the first place? Can the BN be trusted that the word “Allah” not be permitted for use in a Catholic publication but still allowed to be used in a church? This illogical reasoning is similar to the perverse claims by desperate UMNO and BN leaders that the ban on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims only applies to Peninsular Malaysia but not to Sarawak and Sabah when Federal Court rulings applies throughout the country.
Non-Muslims will not forget that when Perkasa threatens to burn bibles, no action is taken. Worse UMNO leaders even tried to justify such calls. Similarly no action is expected to be taken when on 23 June 2014, Perkasa information chief Ruslan Kassim had threatened to behead those who ridicule Islam or the sultan. Such hate speeches and violence appears to be given encouragement, when Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak shockingly called on UMNO party members to emulate Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant(Isil) militant and terrorist suicide bombers as Isil were able to defeat an Iraqi force although they were grossly outnumbered 1,300 to 30,000 troops.
This is the first time that a Malaysian Prime Minister has asked his party members to learn from terrorists and suicide bombers. Is the Prime Minister then going to ask Isil to set up an office here in Malaysia so that UMNO members can learn from them?
Pro-UMNO groups have been exploiting this non-existent fear of Malay Muslims being converted by apostasy by the tens of thousands. So far there is no proof whatsoever, but this suits UMNO political purposes of using fear to putting Malays and Muslims under siege, so has to distract attention from the real economic issues of rising cost of living, rising personal housheld debts as well as rising cronyism and corruption.
DAP believes that ordinary Malaysians regardless of race or religion whether from East or Peninsular Malaysia can see through BN and UMNO’s failure to address these real issues. Malaysians will choose a government that focuses on these real problems the people faces daily rather than a party like BN and UMNO that only knows how to play with imaginary fears in our minds.
LIM GUAN ENG
—–Mandarin Version —–
民主行动党秘书长兼峇眼区国会议员林冠英于2014年6月25日在吉隆坡发表声明：
行动党对于联邦法庭在2014年6月23日的判决感到失望，联邦法院驳回本地天主教会就天主教周刊《先锋报》马来文版，使用“阿拉”字眼的上诉准令申请。法庭拒绝发出准令给该天主教会及《先锋报》以挑战上诉庭裁决，意味着联邦法庭不只否定天主教会在最高司法机构寻求公义的权利，也剥夺了宗教自由及表达自由的基本法律及宪赋权利。
同样令人失望的是，国阵联邦政府宣布遵从由首相署部长拿督斯里依德里斯于2011年4月2日提出的10点方案，让马来西亚基督徒继续在教堂内使用“阿拉”字眼。这就是国阵联邦政府自相矛盾及伪善的立场，一方面叫各界尊重联邦法庭的判决，一方面却说法庭只是禁止罗马天主教会周刊《先锋报》马来版使用“阿拉”字眼，基督徒祈祷时仍可用“阿拉”。
这种立场简直是矛盾及混淆的，一时可以用“阿拉”、一时不可以用“阿拉”，其考量还包括砂拉越选举即将到来。国阵联邦政府对沙巴及砂拉越也不讲信用。在沙巴，国阵曾经答应让不同社群轮流担任首长，这个协定已经废了。国阵也曾答应让沙砂两州享有更高的石油税或“一个马来西亚一个价”，让马来半岛、沙巴及砂拉越物价等同也没有兑现。
如果国阵联邦政府同意它会尊重10点方案，让教堂继续使用“阿拉”字眼，为什么他们要禁止《先锋报》使用“阿拉”字眼？国阵不允许天主教会刊物使用“阿拉”但允许教堂使用“阿拉”，我们还可以相信国阵吗？这个不符合逻辑的理由，与那些固执绝望的巫统及国阵领袖的言论如出一辙，当联邦法庭裁决全国不能使用“阿拉”时，他们说只是禁止马来半岛非穆斯林使用“阿拉”，而不是沙巴及砂拉越的非穆斯林。
非穆斯林不会忘记，当土权组织威胁要焚烧《圣经》时，当局没有采取行动。更糟的是，巫统领袖还想要为这些主张辩护。同样地，2014年6月23日，土权组织宣传局主任鲁斯兰也威胁将那些侮辱伊斯兰及苏丹者斩首时，当局也没有采取行动。种种煽动仇恨及暴力的行动看来受到鼓励，首相拿督斯里纳吉发表惊人言论，要巫统党员仿效中东圣战组织“伊拉克—黎凡特伊斯兰国”（ISIL）的军事及恐怖分子自杀式爆炸袭击行为，伊黎组织以寡敌众，以1300名成员击败了伊拉克3万大军。
这是马来西亚首相第一次要他的党员向恐怖分子及自杀式爆炸袭击学习。那么首相是不是要邀请伊黎组织前来马来西亚设立办事处，好让巫统可以向他们学习？
亲巫统组织一直都在利用马来穆斯林对于数万名穆斯林叛教的无形恐惧。事实上，至今为止，没有任何证据证明上述论点，但是它恰恰好符合巫统的政治目的，用马来人及穆斯林的恐惧来围困他们，转移他们的视线，忽略真正的经济议题如：百物上涨、个人家庭债务增加以及朋党及贪污越来越猖狂。
行动党相信普通马来西亚人，不论他们来自什么种族、宗教背景，西马人或是东马人，都能看清国阵及巫统没有能力处理上述议题的真面目。马来西亚会选择关注及努力改善民生疾苦的政府，而不是像国阵及巫统这些只会操弄人民内心恐惧感的政府。
林冠英