Do not spin, Mr Chief Minister
Four months later, the decree to outlaw 40 words to non-Muslims in Penang was enforced on April 29th 2010. Then, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who maintained an eerie silence sings a different tune today.
Tan Hock Khai, The Malaysian Insider
The recent “Allah” statement by Lim Guan Eng has revealed a trail of misleading statements and sometimes silence, which he carelessly left behind over a span of four years.
Things have come to a head and clearly, he has this knack of lashing back at his perceived “enemies” vindictively with malicious and distracting accusations while trying desperately to cover his exposed guile.
On January 5, 2010, PAS organ Harakahdaily reported that the party reiterated its stand that the use of the word Allah by Christians was not against Islam and in accordance with the Federal Constitution, which guarantees religious freedom.
Four months later, the decree to outlaw 40 words to non-Muslims in Penang was enforced on April 29th 2010. Then, Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng who maintained an eerie silence sings a different tune today.
On October 12, 2011, following a Pakatan Rakyat leaders’ meeting, Lim issued a statement to maintain the status quo in PR by saying that PAS and DAP agreed to disagree on hudud law.
PAS kept their hudud enactments passed in Kelantan and Terengannu and Anwar Ibrahim emerged unscathed with his support for hudud.
On January 8, 2013, Pakatan Rakyat declared that non-Muslims could use the word “Allah”.
Lim manipulatively raised the issue to detract attention from the national DAP CEC elections debacle (not a single Malay was elected into the CEC), simultaneously stirring non-Muslim support for the DAP. Then, PAS had been enforcing Islamic laws on non-Muslims in various places.
On the same day, Selangor’s Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah has expressed shock and regret over the statement by Lim urging the federal government to allow Malay-language Bibles to use the word “Allah”.
The Sultan also decreed that all non-Muslims in the state are banned from using the word “Allah” as it is a holy word exclusive to Muslims.
Six days later on January 14, 2013, PAS’s Shura Council decided that the word “Allah” could not be used to describe God in any non-Muslim publications. It backtracked its decision made on January 5, 2010 against the leaders’ decision because they were well aware that Lim had used the “Allah” issue to curry favour for DAP. In short, they had the guts and principles to stand by their beliefs to avoid being exploited by DAP.
Four days later on January 18, 2013, Lim continued to dodge and avoid reporters’ attempts to elicit a response from him concerning PAS’s decision to reject the use of “Allah” in the Malay-language Bible, even though he had cunningly raised the “Allah” issue for the 2012 Christmas celebration.
On January 12, 2014, DAP national chairman, the late Karpal Singh, said the constitutionality of the prohibition on the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims in Penang is open to challenge in court. Then, he urged the Penang government to seek legal advice on the ban announced by the state mufti before any non-Muslim is charged for using the prohibited words.
On January 18, 2014, PCM vice-president Datuk Huan Cheng Guan asked Lim to clarify the Penang mufti’s decision to bar non-Muslims from using 40 “Islamic” words instead of maintaining silence. Predictably, Lim adopted a muted stand as the late Karpal to be his mouthpiece.
