YOURSAY 'How can it not be okay for The Herald but okay in the Bibles? Which nincompoop came up with the idiotic condition?'

Church's lawyer: Judgment goes beyond The Herald

Aries46: Once again, Umno is caught with its pants down on its ongoing one-upmanship with the Christians.

It looks like the three judges in their zeal to please their political masters have inadvertently opened up the Pandora's Box and the underling headless chickens are having a field day fire-fighting (damage control).

As opined by Catholic Church's lawyer Annou Xavier, the judgment definitely seem to have gone beyond The Herald issue going by remarks (sweeping statements) attributed to the lead judge Mohamed Apandi Ali.

Obviously Muslim Lawyers' Association of Malaysia (PPMM) president Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar is trying to play down the controversial decision but in doing so contradicts himself that there was no blanket ban on the Christians but the judgment confines the term ‘Allah' only in the Islamic reference to God.

What is evident is that both religions per se do not claim exclusivity to the term ‘Allah' and the judges have had to cast a wide enough net to find loopholes in their favour.

Odin: This is what is known as poetic justice. Umno, in the form of its then home minister Syed Hamid Albar, was the party that caused all this problem. Now it (Umno) is in a dilemma.

A blanket ban would alienate Sabah and Sarawak - something it is loathe to do, as it would lose the 95 percent petroleum royalties it has been stealing every year over the last 40 years. To waive the ban with regard to the two states - which it has just done - renders the whole judicial episode a complete farce.

To borrow an American expression, Umno is up the creek without a paddle. Of course, it has also caused Malaysia to be the laughing stock of the whole world, and portrayed its prime minister as a bloody fool.

Serve the party right. We see poetic justice in action now.

LogicalMalaysian: Does anyone understand what Zainul Rijal is talking about? If Bibles are allowed to use the word, then why not The Herald ?

Now that Umno is scrambling to assure the East Malaysians, does the ban look like politics or for the love of the religion?

Oriole: There is no sense in the exemption of some publications and not others, or some denominations and not others. This is contradiction and on that point alone there are serious questions to be asked.

How can it not be okay for The Herald but okay in the Bibles? Which nincompoop came up with the idiotic condition?

Anonymous_40c3: The decision of the Court of Appeal stands and applies beyond its restriction on The Herald .

Lawyers who say otherwise ought to revisit their understanding on the doctrine of stare decisis and examine the ratio decidendi of the judgment and see its ramifications in its application to any other future cases.

Paul Warren: The judgment is in keeping with Jakim's sermon that they know will encumber adherents to their demands.

Last Friday's sermon issued by Jakim (Malaysian Islamic Development Department) and read in all mosques basically implores and in some way encumbers the judges to proceed in the line of their thinking and this is what they did. As Muslims, did the judges have any other choice?

Magnus: Why can't every decent lawyer in Malaysia simply refuse to do any legal work in all of the East and West Malaysian courts until all the stupidity and nonsense now running amok in Malaysia's legal system is halted and cleared out by the legal fraternity there?

Why can't you principled lawyers there stand together and use your collective legal clout to stop this awful mindless nonsense that is destroying your credibility and making you into derisive laughing stock?

Why can't you set aside the cash/rice bowls for a while and eat grass if necessary to defend the rational, logical and equitable standards and principles on which the discipline of law that you represent is anchored on? Why the silence?

Toonarmy: Zainul Rijal, since you're a lawyer, how is anyone to enforce the Court of Appeal's ruling? Put an Umno police officer in every Christian home, follow all Christians wherever they go and listen hard when the Christians say grace before a meal?

Won't your Umno police be confused and start converting to Christianity when they hear 'Lord', 'God', 'Savior' and references to the Old and New Testaments?

What then? Ban all Christians from praying so that your Umno police officers won't become believers in Jesus Christ?

Fair Play: I suspect the harsh comments from the international Islamic community had forced the Muslim Lawyers' Association to take a middle path approach to the controversial decision by the three judges.

However, the decision stands until revoked by a higher court. Let's see how the Federal Court would resolve the matters without resorting to a zero-sum decision.

Armchair Newspaper: The three wise men of the Court of Appeal, the ‘see/hear no evil' Minister in PM's Department Joseph Kurup sycophants and Muslim Lawyers' Association trying their circular silliness that the ban only affected one publication and is confined to Peninsular.

We have one constitution and one legal system. The word ‘Allah' is in the Malay Bible used in Malaysia and in countless other Malay-language Christian literature. It is spoken and verbalised in liturgy, hymns and prayers by Christians in Malaysia.

If it is banned in one publication as the court had ruled, it is a banned word for other Christian publications and spoken words by those who are not Muslim.

This is so silly, irrational and moronic for the home minister, the Court of Appeal and now the bandwagon of sycophants to even suggest that somehow this is confined to one publication.

Malaysia is a dangerous place because of these fools pretending to speak with authority.

Mamak Bendahara: The Herald , please change the name, and continue publishing using ‘Allah'. After all, it only covers The Herald . Call it something else.

Everyone is confused over Allah decision

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