Utusan: Selangor MB’s actions show PKR won’t defend Islam

(MM) – Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia attacked Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim today over his handling of Selangor Islamic authorities’ seizure of Christian bibles last week, saying the menteri besar’s stance meant PKR could not be depended upon to defend Islam.

Writing under the Awang Selamat the pseudonym, the newspaper’s editors also said Khalid must apologise for not siding with the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) in the ongoing tussle over “Allah” in the state.

“The message is, don’t hope that PKR will defend the sanctity of Islam. In this issue, Khalid has to apologise to Muslims, Selangor Sultan and Jais,” Awang Selamat wrote in the Malay-language paper’s weekend edition, Mingguan Malaysia.

Last Thursday, Jais raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and seized over 300 copies of bibles containing the word “Allah”, fuelling a dispute over the use of the Arabic word for God by non-Muslims in the state.

The Selangor Sultan had late last year issued a decree, reminding non-Muslims in the state that they were banned from using “Allah”.

Earlier in the same column, Awang Selamat claimed that BSM president Lee Min Choon and senior Catholic priest Father Lawrence Andrew’s recent remarks were fanning the “anger” of Muslims, expressing its worry that it would lead to “religious conflict”.

It was referring to Lee’s insistence on distributing bibles with the word “Allah” to Christians and Andrew’s failure to retract his stand on Selangor churches’ continued use of the word.

Utusan Malaysia further criticised Khalid’s statement that Jais must get the state exco’s approval for future raids and return the bibles to comply with the federal government’s 10-point solution in 2011.

“Looks like Khalid has once again allowed himself to bow to DAP’s pressure and be carried away by PKR’s liberal approach. Between ensuring the sanctity of Islam and political interests, he chose the second,” the Umno-controlled paper claimed.

Awang Selamat also said it was thankful that the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) ― which had insisted that Jais did not need to revise its standard operating procedures (SOPs) and get state nod for raids ― did not bow to Khalid’s directives.

The daily also said that Khalid should have strongly rejected three DAP lawmakers’ proposal to amend a 1988 state law, which bans the non-Muslim use of the word “Allah”, to ensure its consistency with the Federal Constitution.

Earlier this week, Khalid had said that the DAP trio’s proposal was merely a “personal opinion” and did not reflect Pakatan Rakyat’s views.

The Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988, passed by the then Barisan Nasional state government, prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).

Jais was believed to have used the law as the basis of its raid, which also saw two BSM officials arrested.

The controversial enforcement has also thrown into question the validity of the Cabinet’s 10-point solution as a way around the ongoing impasse over the Arabic word for God.

The 10-point solution, issued by the Najib administration shortly before the Sarawak state election in 2011, allowed for bibles in Malay and indigenous languages to be printed, imported and distributed nationwide with certain conditions imposed for Peninsular Malaysia.

BSM has said that it complied with all the conditions in the 10-point solution, adding that its customers include Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, the Orang Asli community and other Malay-speaking Christians in Peninsular Malaysia.

Bumiputera Christians, who form about 64 per cent or close to two-thirds of the Christian community in Malaysia, have used the word “Allah” when praying and speaking in the national language and their native tongues for centuries.

The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church over its right to print the word “Allah” in the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.