Anwar calls Jais action “high handed”, wants Najib to make a stand on Allah issue
Eileen Ng, TMI
Opposition leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim (pic) waded into the Allah debate by calling on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak to make a stand on the controversy while declaring that he did not approve of the “high handed” ways of the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais), which had seized Malay and Iban language bibles containing the word Allah.
“If Jais felt that there are any actions that have contravened the law, then they should call up the relevant parties for an explanation.
“But you can’t take such drastic action because it will be perceived as anti-Christian. There is no need for such action. It only causes tension,” he said after giving a talk at the Centre for Reform, Democracy and Social Initiatives today breaking his silence on the issue.
Jais raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) office in Petaling Jaya, where it seized over 300 copies of the AlKitab and Bup Kudus. Two top BSM officials were also detained in the raid.
But lawyers have since questioned the authority of Islamic authorities to raid the BSM premises or seize the bibles, pointing out that Jais and other such departments have no jurisdiction over non-Muslims.
They also cast doubt on the validity and constitutionality of enactment that they say impinged on the right to religious freedom.
Anwar believed the entire controversy was an attempt to deflate attention from the country’s economic problems such as the rising cost of living due to price hikes and subsidy cuts.
“I don’t dismiss the fact there are attempts to deflect attention from the economic problem the country is facing and other problems like the quality of education, economic injustice and moral degradation.
Anwar said Najib should take a position on this issue.
“The government should deal with it and not by attacking the rest,” he said.
Anwar also ticked off the three DAP assemblyman – Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara), Rajiv Rishyakaran (Bukit Gasing) and Lau Weng San (Kampung Tunku) for proposing to amend the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
