Hasan Ali defends Ibrahim Ali

But the former PAS man agrees that the Perkasa chief's call to burn Bibles is a "poor choice of words".

PETALING JAYA: Selangor state lawmaker Hasan Ali today supported Ibrahim Ali’s struggle to uphold the word “Allah” for Muslims but disagreed with the latter’s call to burn Bibles.

The president of NGO Jati said the Perkasa chief’s call on Saturday for Muslims to burn Bibles using the word “Allah” was not intended to stir violence but was just “a reflection of anger”.

Ibrahim, an independent Pasir MP, had since explained to Utusan Malaysia that his call was to wake up those who tried to proselytise Muslims.

“In the heat of the moment, he said some words. They were more or less a bad choice of words, and he had not meant to be violent,” Hasan told a press conference here.

“We should view his statement positively, that it was a reflection of what Islam and the Malays want,” he added.

Hasan said Ibrahim’s statement represented a big portion of Malaysians.

“He had been into villages, he had been to cities. He had spoken to people and they had told him (of their worries),” he said.

“This is what Malaysia wants,” he added.

However, Hasan disagreed with Ibrahim’s call to burn the Holy books and stressed that Islam was a peaceful religion.

“I do not condone the act. Islam is a peaceful religion and we should use peaceful ways to solve issues,” he said.

Hasan also urged the Home Ministry to monitor the “Allah” issue as a whole and not focus only on the publication of Malay-language Bibles containing the word.

“Take action now and not wait for signs that would disrupt public order,” he warned, referring to the distribution of Bahasa Melayu copies of the Bible at a school in Penang which was detected last Thursday.

“The ministry has to observe these activities as well. There had been credible police reports made on this incident, the police should take action (against the distributors),” he said.

The controversy first appeared early last year when an uproar broke out against the usage of the term “Allah” in Malay Bibles, predominantly used by the native Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.

Pakatan Rakyat had maintained the stand that everyone was allowed to use the term even though PAS’ Syura Council recently decided against this.

Early this month, Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah decreed that non-Muslims were not allowed to use the term “Allah”.