KUALA LUMPUR – Muafakat Nasional (MN) has urged the government to launch an appeal against the high court’s decision to allow Christians to use the word “Allah” in their publications.
The political pact between the country’s two largest Malay-Muslim parties Umno and PAS called on the government to bring the matter to the appellate court.
“MN wants to state its highly serious concern with the high court’s decision to allow the use of Islamic terms by non-Muslims in their publications,” said a statement from the pact after its monthly meeting at the Umno headquarters in Menara Dato Onn here last night.
Yesterday, the high court ruled that Christians nationwide are allowed to use the word “Allah” and three other Arabic words in their religious publications for educational purposes.
The ruling effectively rendered invalid a circular issued by the Home Ministry against the use of “Allah” by Christians in the country.
It also allowed three other words to be used, which are “Baitullah”, “Kaabah” and “solat”, following a judicial review application by Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, a native Melanau Christian from Sarawak.
The statement came after MN held its negotiations task force meeting, chaired by Umno deputy president Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan and PAS deputy president Datuk Seri Tuan Ibrahim Tuan Man.
Prior to the meeting, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Ahmad Maslan had said that the party must continue to work closely with PAS to ensure that the two largest Malay-Muslim parties in the country do not clash in the upcoming 15th general election.
He also said that although Umno is not cooperating with Bersatu in the polls, the Barisan Nasional lynchpin party could negotiate the matter in the future.
The MN statement said the meeting yesterday had decided that the government be called to expedite the harmonising of the legal system within the framework of the federal constitution.
While not elaborating on what needed harmonising in the country’s legal system, MN is believed to be alluding to the overlapping of jurisdiction of certain laws involving shariah and civil laws, among others.
Additionally, the pact announced that it had agreed to continue consolidating its political cooperation. – The Vibes, March 11, 2021
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