KOTA KINABALU: United Pasokmomogun Kadazandusun Murut Organisation (UPKO will continue to defend the rights of Malaysians to use the term ‘Allah’ in their worship, said its president, Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
This is because it is within their human rights to use the word that has been part of their worship even before Malaysia was formed, he said.
Dompok was commenting on the Court of Appeal’s decision which held that the Catholic weekly, ‘The Herald’, cannot use the word ‘Allah’ in the publication to refer to ‘God’.
“It is really a disappointment for Christians and Sikhs in Malaysia. It is especially a sad day for the natives of East Malaysia who have been using the term in Christian worship well before Malaysia was formed. That to me is also part of the so-called ‘social contract’. Christians in Indonesia and the Arab world have no problem with name they call their God and I do not see why Malaysia has to be any different. The decision is against the spirit of the formation of this country. We will continue to defend the rights of Malaysians to use the term in their worship as it is their human rights,” Dompok said in a statement yesterday.