Minister dares PR-led Selangor to amend state law on use of Allah

SUBANG JAYA — The Pakatan Rakyat-helmed Selangor government should amend the state’s Islamic enactments that prohibit the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims to prove that it supports equal rights for all races, a United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) minister said.

Tourism and Culture Minister Nazri Aziz yesterday hit out at Christian voters who had accused the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition of discrimination over restrictions on the use of the Arabic word for God, suggesting they take the matter up directly with Selangor Chief Minister Azmin Ali.

“Christians who want to use (the word) Allah should ask the Selangor Mentri Besar (Chief Minister) to amend the enactment and allow them to use (it). You want equality badly, don’t you?” Mr Nazri told reporters yesterday.

Mr Nazri said many non-Muslims seemed to be blaming the BN for the Allah issue and not the opposition Pakatan Rakyat (PR) government in Selangor.

The Allah issue has become a major political flashpoint amid growing ethnic and religious tensions in Malaysia. Last October, a Malaysian court ruled that the word Allah was exclusive to Muslims, overturning a court decision that had allowed a Roman Catholic newspaper printed in Malay, the country’s national language, to use the word Allah.

Government ministers have said the word can still be used in the eastern Sabah and Sarawak states, where most of Malaysia’s Christians live.

Mr Nazri also said since many non-Malays considered PR leaders, such as Mr Azmin, to be liberal, it should not be a problem for the Selangor Chief Minister to make the amendment to allow non-Muslims to use the word Allah in Selangor.

“The Christians (in Selangor) can now push Azmin because he (and the PR), with a two-third majority, can amend the enactment and pull out the section,” said Mr Nazri after a function in Subang Jaya, Selangor, yesterday. “Isn’t he a liberal? So make him amend the enactment,” he added.

The minister argued that such enactments do not apply to non-Muslims in Sarawak, Sabah and Penang, which allow its residents to use the Arabic word for God freely in religions other than Islam.

Recent incidents this year have also highlighted the tensions over the sensitive issue in the country.

In January, 351 copies of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban-language Bibles were seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia’s (BSM) bookshop in Petaling Jaya by Selangor Religious Affairs Department (JAIS) officers and the police.

The BSM’s then president Lee Min Choon and office manager Sinclair Wong were also taken in for police questioning and later released.

JAIS said then that the seizure had been conducted in accordance with the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions Enactment 1988, which prohibits non-Muslims from using the word Allah.

About nine months after the Bibles were seized, they were returned last month to the Christians in Sarawak through the Association of Churches in Sarawak in a formal ceremony at the Selangor palace.

The Bibles were released to the Sarawak Christians and not the Peninsula-based BSM on the condition that they would not be distributed in Selangor, a statement from the Selangor Islamic Religious Council said.

Agencies