Larangan penggunaan kalimah Allah yang diputuskan oleh Mahkamah Rayuan semalam hanya terpakai kepada akhbar mingguan Katolik, Herald dan bukannya kepada penerbitan Kristian lain atau Bible dalam bahasa Melayu, Al-Kitab yang digunakan di Sabah dan Sarawak, kata Timbalan Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. Beliau berkata keputusan Kabinet membenarkan penggunaan kalimah Allah dalam Al-Kitab di Sabah dan Sarawak serta jaminan yang dikeluarkan oleh Ketua Menteri Sarawak, Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud pada 2011 masih terpakai.
Katanya, isu ini masih belum selesai dan beliau percaya kes ini akan dirujuk ke Mahkamah Persekutuan.
"Saya percaya akan ada lagi semakan kehakiman."
Wan Junaidi berkata keputusan oleh Mahkamah Persekutuan kelak akan mengakhiri segala perkara berbangkit.
Katanya, keputusan Mahkamah Persekutuan nanti akan dipolitikkan oleh pihak tertentu.
"Keputusan yang diputuskan mahkamah adalah berpandukan Perlembagaan dan tidak menerima tekanan daripada sesiapa.
"Bermakna polis atau agensi lain tidak mempengaruhi keputusan mereka," katanya ketika ditemui dalam satu acara penyembelihan korban di Tabuan Hilir, Sarawak.
Namun, Wan Junaidi berkata kerajaan berpandukan undang-undang boleh menggunakan kuasanya untuk menarik balik keputusan mahkamah melalui pindaan undang-undang di Parlimen.
Dalam pada itu, Ahli Parlimen Tuaran Datuk Madius Tangau memberi amaran kepada Pertubuhan Pribumi Perkasa Malaysia (Perkasa) agar tidak membabitkan negeri di Malaysia Timur terhadap keputusan Mahkamah Rayuan semalam.
Beliau yang juga Setiausaha Agung UPKO berkata penggunaan kalimah Allah di Sabah dan Sarawak tidak mendatangkan apa-apa masalah di sana.
Katanya, penganut Kristian di Sabah dan Sarawak telah menggunakan kalimah itu sejak 100 tahun lalu dengan aman dan harmoni.
Sementara itu, Menteri Pembangunan Tanah Sarawak, Tan Sri Dr James Masing turut senada dengan Madius.
"Datuk Zulkifli Noordin tinggalkan keputusan itu di Semenanjung dan jangan bawanya ke Sabah dan Sarawak untuk merosakkan keharmonian di sini."
Masing-masing turut menyuarakan kebimbangan sekiranya keputusan itu terpakai kepada Al-Kitab akan memungkiri janji Datuk Seri Najib Razak di Sibu pada 2010.
"Sekiranya perkara itu benar berlaku akan merosakkan kredibiliti Barisan Nasional (BN) dan Najib sebagai Perdana Menteri," katanya.- TMI
Allah not exclusive to Muslims, government declares ban only applies to Herald...
The ban on the use of the word Allah only applies to the Catholic weekly, Herald, and not other Christian publications or the Al-Kitab, the Bahasa Malaysia bible which is widely used in Sabah and Sarawak, said Deputy Home Minister Datuk Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar (pic).
He said the Cabinet decision to allow the use of Allah in Bahasa Malaysia or native language bibles in Sabah and Sarawak and the assurance given by Sarawak Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud in 2011 still stand, thereby suggesting that the government does not believe that the word is exclusive to Muslims.
But the issue (the ban on the word Allah in the Herald) is not over yet, he added, and believed there would be an appeal to the Federal Court.
He added that the decision made by the Federal Court later could change all that.
However, he said the Federal Court ruling could still be over-ridden by a political decision.
"Decisions made by the courts are case laws. Even though they become part of the law of the country, they are normally not enforceable.
"That means you can't get the police or other agencies to enforce them. They are not statute laws (laws passed by parliament)," he told reporters after joining his constituents in Kampung Tabuan Hilir in the slaughtering of cows and distribution of meat to the poor in conjunction with Hari Raya Aidil Adha.
Wan Junaidi said the prime minister, so as not to usurp the powers of the court and the legal system, could make the exemption of Sabah and Sarawak from the ban legally, by introducing a Bill in Parliament for a law to override the court decision.
"We can have a political decision to override the court decision," he explained.
Yesterday, the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) said the ban on the use of the word Allah has far-reaching implications and would affect all Christian publications printed in Bahasa Malaysia.
Deputy president of Malay rights group Perkasa, Zulkifli Noordin, called for the ban to be extended to publications in Sabah and Sarawak. Zulkifli also said churches in Sabah and Sarawak should be "educated" on the court ruling.
In reaction, an enraged Barisan Nasional (BN) lawmaker from Sabah, Tuaran MP Datuk Madius Tangau, warned Perkasa not to drag the Borneo states into the Allah ruling.
Madius, who is also United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut (UPKO) party secretary-general, said the use of the word Allah had caused no problems in Sabah and Sarawak.
He added Christians in Sabah and Sarawak had used the word for over 100 years yet people of all religions there had lived in peace and harmony.
Sarawak Land Development Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing today reacted to Zulkifli's comments by telling him not to export what is rotten to Sabah and Sarawak.
"You (Zulkifli) keep your rotten things with you in the peninsula. Do not export them to Sabah and Sarawak and undermine our peace and unity over here.
Masing also voiced his fear that the ruling, if it had applied to the Al-Kitab, would have rendered Najib's promise made before the Saraawak state elections in 2011 empty.
"That would put a very bad dent in the BN government. The credibility of the prime minister and his government would be put to the test," Masing added.
The Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president also said with Sarawak heading towards a state election in three years' time, a ban in Sabah and Sarawak would have "very serious political implications" for the BN. - October 15, 2013.-TMI
cheers. 
