Bersatu has accused Putrajaya of defying royal decrees after the federal government withdrew its appeal against a High Court decision favouring Jill Ireland’s right as a non-Muslim to use the word "Allah".
Rulers of Johor and Selangor had in 2021 decreed that Putrajaya must appeal against the High Court decision and that the respective religious authorities in the two states must take legal action to support the appeals.
In view of this, Bersatu believes that Putrajaya cannot unilaterally withdraw the appeal without referring to the rulers and religious bodies.
"Bersatu is of the position that the home minister does not have the right to decide on the withdrawal of the appeal without referring to the Council of Rulers, state religious authorities and the National Council of Islamic Religious Affairs' Muzakarah Committee," said Bersatu information chief Razali Idris.
Yesterday, Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail explained that Putrajaya withdrew the appeal after his ministry studied the High Court judgment.
Saifuddin explained the Home Ministry found that the 1986 rules applied to confiscate Ireland's possessions of materials including CDs containing the word "Allah" in 2008 were defective and contributed to her court victory.
In view of this, he said his ministry was in the midst of reviewing these directives to better regulate the use of the words "Allah", "Baitullah", "solat" and "Kaabah" in the future.
Political move?
However, Bersatu does not accept Saifuddin's explanation and instead alleged that the decision to withdraw the appeal was purely political.
Razali claimed that the decision was made to secure the support of MPs from Sabah and Sarawak as well as to attract the backing of non-Muslims ahead of the upcoming six-state elections.
The party also rejected Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim's claim that the High Court ruling favouring Ireland was only applicable to Sarawak.
"This is a shallow statement because Sarawak is a part of Malaysia where Islam is the religion of the federation and the Sarawak Islamic Religious Council is headed by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong," Razali said.
Bersatu also urged Religious Affairs Minister Mohd Na'im Mokhtar to state his stand on the issue and defend all efforts of the Malay rulers to ensure that matters concerning Islam are appropriately addressed. - Mkini
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.