Drop demands over ‘Allah’, Alkitab to show sincerity, Perkasa tells Christians

KUALA LUMPUR, May 13 — Datuk Ibrahim Ali challenged today the sincerity of church leaders who pledged yesterday to respect Islam, asking why they still insisted on using the word “Allah” and having Malay bibles.

The Perkasa chief said his organisation was relieved the “Christian priests have given their pledge... to respect Islam as the official religion of the federation” after Umno’s Utusan Malaysia published a presumed plot to install a Christian instead of a Muslim as prime minister and usurp Islam’s position in the Federal Constitution.

“In that case, if they really respect why are they so insistent to have the bible in Malay and why is God not translated as Tuhan but Allah until it has to go to court?” the Pasir Mas MP said to The Malaysian Insider in a text message.

He said even though other religions are free to practise their beliefs, their position is not the same as Islam’s position from the constitutional perspective.

“When you accept, you must be really sincere. Don’t make nonsensical claims as if it were on par with Islam as the official religion of the federation,” Ibrahim (picture) added.

The federal lawmaker has been lobbying for the government to continue a decades-old pro-Malay economic policy.

“That’s why they must also take into account Malay adat and culture,” he said, inadvertently raising the spectre of 1969 when Malaysia experienced its bloodiest racial clash 34 years ago today.

The country’s highest ranking Christian clerics who met Datuk Seri Najib Razak for lunch yesterday told the prime minister they respected Islam’s position and had no desire to usurp its place.

The PM was reported to be pleased with the pledge.

The controversial Malay daily was slapped with a warning letter from the home ministry over the sensational report last Saturday titled “Kristian agama rasmi?” (Christianity the official religion?) which stirred emotional responses from both Muslim and Christian communities.

The opposition DAP, which was also implicated in the Utusan article, had lodged a formal complaint with the government.

But Ibrahim said the story should serve as a “reminder” and told the home ministry it should act against the Chinese media and bloggers.

“What Utusan has done has benefit as a reminder. Apart from cautioning or calling the chief editor of Utusan, KDN must also be stern with the Chinese media, bloggers who write and insult Islam,” he said.