Pakatan talks over ‘Allah’ issue

(The Star) – The on-off Pakatan Rakyat meeting to discuss Lim Guan Eng’s controversial “Allah” statement is on again, this time scheduled for Tuesday.

PKR Youth chief Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin confirmed that the top leadership of the Opposition coalition would discuss the controversy sparked by the DAP secretary-general’s recent reference to it.

“The Pakatan leadership is schedule to meet at PKR’s head office this Jan 8 to discuss and resolve the matter,” he said after attending the Pakatan Youth secretariat meeting here yesterday.

Shamsul refused to elaborate, only saying that the Pakatan youth leadership would take its cue from the outcome of the leadership’s meeting next week.

DAP publicity chief Tony Pua confirmed the issue would be brought up during the Pakatan monthly leadership meeting.

Controversy over the “Allah” word cropped up when Lim, in his recent Christmas message, urged the Federal Government to allow Christians to use the word in their Malay version of the Bible.

Lim’s message caused an uproar among Muslims, while some Muslim NGOs held protests in front of his Penang office last month.

PAS also hit out at Lim, stating firmly that the word “Allah” should not be used by Christians to refer to God; as it would only lead to confusion for both Muslims and Christians.

On Dec 27, Anwar conceded that an urgent meeting to discuss the matter was needed to resolve the issue, although discussions were held by the Pakatan leadership when the controversy surfaced in 2010.

On a separate issue, PAS Youth chief Nasrudin Hassan Tantawi described RTM’s decision to scrap a proposed forum, to allow its president Datuk Seri Hadi Awang to explain his infidel’ label against Umno and its supporters, as a political ploy just when the general election is about to be held.

He chided Umno’s claim that the National Fatwa Council had issued an edict against Hadi’s 1981 message (amanat Haji Hadi), saying that only the Malacca Fatwa Council had done so.