Sabah, Sarawak Christians can use ‘Allah’ ???

KOTA KINABALU - Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said the Appeals Court’s decision on the use of the word Allah does not affect Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.
Najib said the contents in the 10-Point Agreement decided by the federal cabinet on the matter would be maintained for the two states.
“…recently when the Appeals Court made its decision on the use of the word Allah, it did not at all touch on the practices of Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, in fact the 10-Point Agreement is still being maintained,” he said.
Najib, who is also Barisan Nasional (BN) chairman, said this when opening Parti Bersatu Sabah’s (PBS) 28th Delegates Conference in Penampang near here today.
On Oct 14, a three-man bench of the Appeals Court in Putrjaya in hearing an appeal by the government had ruled that the Catholic church in the country could not use the word Allah to refer to God in its weekly publication The Herald.
Also present were the Prime Minister’s wife Rosmah Mansor, Sabah Chief Minister Musa Aman and Sabah Deputy Chief Minister cum PBS president Joseph Pairin Kitingan.
Najib also reminded all communities that one of the pre-requisites for peace was to preserve the good relations between various races and followers of various religions in the country.
“To Sabahans, let there be no one who should feel oppressed as the practice of religions will remain as before.
“If we live in peace, we can foster and strengthen racial and religious harmony. We also want to see how we can bring more development to Sabah especially in the rural areas,” he said.
Rational considerations
He said before the 1Malaysia concept was introduced, Sabah had already practised such harmony with the uniqueness of various races and ethnic groups living in harmony, which reflected the 1Malaysia community concept.
In this regard, Najib said all parties should take care of each other’s religious sensitivities in line with the government’s desire to promote unity within the racial diversity of the country.
“…we need to manage everything relating to ethnic and religious relations with the mutual understanding of each other’s sensitivities.
“If we can take care of the two major groups (Muslims and non-Muslims) in the country, the secret to harmony for followers of religions will not be difficult to achieve… it is not rocket science, it is based on rational considerations.
“The consideration is simple, Muslims should not hurt the feelings of non-Muslims and non-Muslims should not hurt the feelings of Muslims. It is as simple as that,” he said, as reported in FMT
According to Najib, if everybody held to this principle, the country will be in peace and harmony as seen in the unity of Sabahans including PBS members today.