Non-Muslims insisting on the use of the word 'Allah' in peninsular Malaysia are disrupting what was already a working arrangement, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said.

He said that insisting to do so "creates tension between different religions", as non-Muslims in the peninsula do not traditionally use the word.

"Our view before was people who already use it can continue doing so, but why bring it to the peninsula? It's never used (in the peninsula) anyway," he said.

He was commenting on urgings by some NGOs that non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak be banned from using the word ‘Allah’ following the Court of Appeal’s Monday decision.

NONEMeanwhile, Dr Mahathir (left) advised the government that it should take a staggered approach to introducing the goods and services tax (GST), so as to ease the pain of price hikes.

He also urged the government to be more judicious in its spending, considering the budget deficit, and to spend on things which bring returns in tax revenue.

“If we reduce (consumer) subsidies but our spending is not controlled, then it has no effect.

“For example, the Bantuan Rakyat 1Malaysia... costs RM1.5 billion. That is money spent,” he said.

He was speaking to reporters after launching the Ummah Investment Fund by the Malay Chamber of Commerce (DPMM).

The fund was launched with RM10 million in seed funds from the Johor Malay Chamber of Commerce and Johor Malay Chamber of Commerce Foundation.

DPMM president Syed Ali Alattas said that he hopes that other states could contribute as much to the fund so as to reach the goal of RM150 million.

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