KUALA LUMPUR — Perikatan Nasional (PN) president Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has claimed that the “unity government” under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim is run by non-Malays.
Muhyiddin also claimed he was pressured by DAP when he was the home minister in the Pakatan Harapan (PH) federal administration under then prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad not to appeal against a High Court ruling that allowed a Sarawakian Bumiputera Christian to use the word “Allah” – a word of Middle Eastern roots referring to God – in her religious learning, news portal Free Malaysia Today reported.
“Even when I was with them (in the PH government), they pushed me not to allow an appeal,” he was quoted as saying in Kapar, Selangor late last night.
Muhyiddin also alleged that Anwar’s decision to not allow an appeal for the Allah issue was due to pressure by DAP.
“Even if we had lost the appeal at the highest court level, we could have made a law on the Allah issue,” he was quoted as saying
According to Muhyiddin, there is a big difference between a Muslim using the word “Allah” compared to Christians.
The news portal did not report if he elaborated on the difference.
Muhyiddin, who was prime minister from March 2020 to August 2021, was reported saying he could not proceed with the government appeal because Anwar became prime minister after GE15 last November.
“He became the prime minister and decided to stop the appeal, and when you don’t appeal it means you agree to the court order which allows Christians to use the word ‘Allah’,” he was quoted as saying.
He accused Anwar of being willing to do anything to stay in power, even if it meant befriending its arch political nemesis Umno.
There have been several other separate cases concerning the use of the word “Allah” by Christians that had gone to court in the last two decades.
The “Allah” issue returned to the limelight this year after news emerged on May 15 that the government was withdrawing its appeal in the case of Sarawakian Christian Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill who had challenged the Home Ministry’s right to ban her from using it and confiscating her religious materials that she had brought back after a trip to Indonesia 13 years ago.
On June 7, Anwar said his government will abide by the decision made by the Conference of Rulers when it meets in October to discuss the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims in Malaysia.
Anwar said the federal government’s stand is to recognise and apply the existing policy which limits the use of the word “Allah” to Muslims in peninsular Malaysia and to give a conditional relaxing of this policy for non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak.
Despite the announcement, the issue appears to continue to be on the simmer as six states head to the polls on August 12. MM
DAP MP calls on police to investigate Muhyiddin for racial, religious incitement over ‘Allah’ court case ahead of state polls
KUALA LUMPUR — Bukit Bendera MP Syerleena Abdul Rashid today called on the police to investigate Perikatan Nasional (PN) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for racial and religious incitement over his recent remarks on the unity government’s court withdrawal in appealing against a Sarawakian Bumiputera Christian’s contentious use of the word “Allah” for God.
The government backbencher from DAP said Muhyiddin’s remarks were a “dirty tactic” that aimed to create division even after Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain warned political parties to steer clear of touching on sensitive topics involving religion, royalty and race (3R) in the state elections.
Syerleena accused the former prime minister of hypocrisy in playing up the 3R issues to garner support from Malay-Muslims voters for August 12 six state elections.
Syerleena’s DAP party mate and Jelutong MP RSN Rayer who was also present at the same news conference said Muhyiddin’s latest remark is clearly meant to sway Malay-Muslim voters not to back the Pakatan Harapan-Barisan Nasional (PH-BN) unity government and its candidates in the state elections.
“I want to urge them to not resort to dirty tactics such as using religion and race during their campaign.
“Our campaign has been clean and on what can be done by the respective state governments, we do not resort to dirty tactics such as PN,” he said.
Several news outlets reported Muhyiddin saying at a PN ceramah in Kapar, Selangor last night that he was under pressure from DAP not to appeal against a High Court ruling that allowed Sarawakian Melanau Christian Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill to use the word Arabic word for God, “Allah” as part of her religious learning.
Muhyiddin was also reported claiming that PH chairman Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim had become prime minister only to stop the government from appealing the court decision so that non-Muslims could use the word. MM
Report lodged against Muhyiddin over Allah issue
In his speech, Muhyiddin had alleged that the “Allah” issue demonstrated that non-Malays were running the unity government.
He further alleged that when he was the then home minister, he came under pressure from DAP to not allow an appeal against a High Court ruling that allowed a Sarawakian Bumiputera Christian to use the word “Allah”.
DAP Bukit Bendera member of parliament Syerleena Abdul Rashid described Muhyiddin’s allegations as “ridiculous”.
She said, when something like this was uttered, it clearly violated what the Inspector-General of Police had mentioned (to refrain from touching on 3R issues).
“The reason is none other than to cause hatred and fear mongering to prevent the people from voting.
“As such, I have lodged a police report and urge the authority to probe this matter under Section 505 of the Penal Code and the Sedition Act,” she said at the Wisma DAP here today.
She was accompanied by DAP legal adviser RSN Rayer.
Rayer said it was clear that Muhyiddin’s statement was out to confuse the voters, particularly the Malays, to not vote for the unity government and Pakatan Harapan in the six states facing state elections.
“Muhyiddin’s statement clearly has bad intentions to influence the Malay voters.
“As such, we urge the IGP to take stern actions. It is a serious offence to use 3R issues.
“He should investigate and charge Muhyiddin before the state elections,” he added.
He also warned Muhyiddin that he could be probed under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for revealing details of discussions in Cabinet.
“Anyway, that aside, we deny all of Muhyiddin’s allegations.
“For them, DAP is at fault for everything.
“On our part, we have ensured clean campaigning for the past three days,” he said.
Meanwhile, state Amanah secretary Mohd Saifullah Abd Nasir condemned Muhyiddin’s action.
He also told Muhyiddin that the Malays were well informed now and not easily influenced by such an agenda. NST
MALAY MAIL / NST
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