MCA today demanded that two Pakatan Rakyat-led governments stop blaming the federal government for the ban on the word ‘Allah’ to be used by non-Muslims, and instead use their powers to amend their respective state enactments.

MCA central committee member Ti Lian Ker in a statement today said that both the Penang and Selangor state governments have sufficient majority to amend state enactments that prohibit the usage of the word ‘Allah’ and several other words among non-Muslims.

He also pointed out that the laws prohibiting the usage of these words mostly came through state enactments, which can be changed by state leaders.

“I pose to Lim Guan Eng, since Pakatan wields 30 seats out of 40 seats in the Penang state assembly, of which only six Pakatan elected reprsentatives are Muslims, I am sure you could easily find the 27 Pakatan state assemblypersons or elected representatives (the two-third majority) to vote to repeal the Penang State Islamic Religious Administration Enactment 2004,” Ti ( left ) said.

Ti added that the Pakatan-led governments have also played on the Christian sentiments, which contributes to a major portion of their votes.

“The political reality is that both in Penang and Selangor, there is a Christian vote bank that is crucial in electing the state government of the day. Pakatan has received a near absolute mandate from this pool of Christian votes.”

He also questioned the motive behind ‘Buku Jingga’, which was produced by Pakatan, and asked why its leaders have not used it in their states to fulfil their promises.

Ti took a swipe at DAP and the Penang government which he said should “be brave to correct the situation” and not shift the blame to other parties.

“If DAP is sincere in wanting to do justice to the Christians (both in Selangor and Penang), they should be brave enough to correct the situation politically along the lines of the 10-Point Solution for Sarawak and Sabah.

'Ball in DAP's court'

“The ball is in DAP’s court in Penang and DAP has kowtowed to the political dictates of the minorities in Penang. Clearly DAP has practised political double standards on MCA. Clearly DAP had opted for political expediency instead, so stop shifting blame to MCA, BN or the federal government,” Ti said.

In a majority decision last June, Malaysia’s highest court refused to grant leave to hear the appeal by the Catholic Church in the ‘Allah’ case.

It thereby upheld the Court of Appeal decision overturning the High Court’s 2009 ruling that the ban on the use of ‘Allah’ by The Herald was invalid.

The copies of the Bible in the Malay and Iban languages containing the word ‘Allah’ were seized by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) from the Bible Society of Malaysia on Jan 2 and were only returned last month.