Malaysia ‘Allah’ dispute simmers on

Lawyers for Malaysia’s Catholic Church have said their offices were ransacked in the latest attack apparently linked to a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” to describe God.

The reported break-in follows a series of attacks on churches in the wake of a court ruling that overturned the government’s ban on non-Muslims using the word “Allah”.

A church in southern Johor state was also attacked on Thursday with unknown assailants throwing red paint at the building before dawn, local police said.

A day earlier a Sikh temple was attacked, apparently because Sikhs also refer to God as ”Allah”.

At least eight other churches have been firebombed or vandalised since the court ruling allowing the Malaysian Catholic weekly newspaper, the Herald, to use the word “Allah” to refer to God in its Malay-language edition.