PAS lawmaker warns Catholic priests from being used by Umno in Allah row
(TMI) – Umno leaders are pushing the Allah issue to make Catholic priests come across as unreasonable parties and to use them as pawns to drum up support from urban Malays, a PAS lawmaker has warned.
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad (pic) told The Malaysian Insider he met the priests this week after being invited by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur to speak on the current religious situation at their monthly meeting at the Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre in Jalan Robertson, off Jalan Pudu, in the federal capital.
“I told them (the priests) that whether they like it or not, they are being used as political pawns by Umno-Barisan Nasional in this issue.
“They (Umno) are trying to polarise society so that the Malays feel they are threatened by everyone else,” the Shah Alam MP told The Malaysian Insider, saying he spoke on the Allah issue and ongoing row over the seizure of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban Bibles.
Khalid had also told the priests that facts are being hidden from rural Malays who were not aware that the world was laughing at Malaysia over the Allah row.
The PAS lawmaker said the rural Malays are fed with news from the government-controlled media and are ignorant of the real situation.
“It is the urban Malays that need to be won over. Umno is becoming more desperate as the support from urban Malays is dwindling.
“It is a political game. Umno’s survival depends on whether they can make Muslims feel they are under threat,” he told the priests.
Khalid joined the likes of fellow PAS compatriots Datuk Mujahid Yusof Rawa and and Sepang MP Hanipa Maidin who have organised dialogues in churches nationwide to “build bridges” with the community following the Allah row.
In his 40-minute talk with the priests, Khalid told them that PAS’s stand on the Allah issue was clear – there is nothing wrong with non-Muslims using the term in their faiths as long as it is not misused or misinterpreted.
“There is no written proof in the Quran that the Prophet had prevented non-Muslims from using the word,” he said.
Umno, he told the religious leaders, was using the debate over the word Allah to cover up their failures in other matters.
“For example, the hike in prices of goods and services which has caused the cost of living to rise,” he added.
As far as PAS is concerned, he said, Islam is a religion that preaches mercy and peace, irrespective of religion.
