KUALA LUMPUR: Another two churches were firebombed yesterday, taking to six the total of attacks in three days of unrest following a court decision allowing Christians and other non-Muslims to use "Allah" to refer to God. Hundreds of worshippers whose parish church was partly gutted in a firebomb attack last week gathered at a makeshift prayer hall for their Sunday service and called for national unity and an end to violence.
A Molotov cocktail was hurled at the All Saints Church in Taiping town in central Perak state early yesterday before it had opened, said state police chief Zulkifli Abdullah. He said the building was not damaged. Also yesterday, a bottle of kerosene was thrown into St Louis Catholic Church, which wasn't damaged.
Four churches were hit by petrol bombs on Friday and Saturday. All except the Metro Tabernacle, whose parishioners moved their services, suffered little damage, and no one was hurt. The other three held normal services yesterday.
The dispute is over a December 31 High Court decision that overturned a government order banning non-Muslims from using the word Allah in their prayers and literature.
The court was ruling on a petition by Malaysia's Catholic Church, whose main publication, the Herald, uses Allah in its Malay-language edition. The government has appealed against the verdict.
The government contends that making Allah synonymous with God may confuse Muslims and ultimately mislead them into converting to Christianity.
Prime Minister Najib Razak visited the Metro Tabernacle church late on Saturday and announced a grant of 500,000 ringgit ($160,323) for rebuilding it at a new location.
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