KAPAR : Perikatan Nasional chairman Muhyiddin Yassin has accused the Anwar Ibrahim unity government of being run by non-Malays, citing the “Allah” issue as an example.
He said that when he was the home minister in the Pakatan Harapan government of 2018-2020, he came under pressure from DAP not to allow an appeal against a High Court ruling on the use of the word “Allah” by a Sarawakian woman in her religious learning.
He said there is a big difference in the meaning of the word as used by Christians and Muslims.
“As a Malay leader, that is why I urged the PH government to appeal (against the High Court ruling). Even if we had lost the appeal at the highest court level, we could have made a law on the Allah issue,” said Muhiyiddin.
However, the appeal did not proceed further because Anwar’s government came into power last year, Muhyiddin said. “He became the prime minister and decided to stop the appeal, and when you don’t appeal it means you agree to the court order which allows Christians to use the word ‘Allah’.”
He alleged that Anwar’s decision was because of pressure from DAP. “Even when I was with them (in the PH government), they pushed me not to allow an appeal.”
He accused Anwar of being willing to do anything just so he could remain in power. “He is willing to do whatever it takes, even if it’s befriending Umno.”
The “Allah” issue arose when a Sarawakian woman, Jill Ireland, sought a court order to allow the use of the word for the purpose of religious education in Malay and her native Melanau language in Sarawak.
In a landmark decision in March 2021, the High Court declared as illegal a 1986 home ministry ruling to prohibit the use of the words “Allah”, “Baitullah”, “Solat” and “Kaabah” by non-Muslims.
The government filed an appeal but on April 18 this year, the Attorney-General’s Chambers, representing the home ministry, notified the Court of Appeal that it did not wish to pursue the case. - FMT
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