There are no plans to conduct public interfaith dialogues to educate the public on the Allah issue, said Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mashitah Ibrahim.  

NONE “The Malaysian Institute of Islamic Understanding (Ikim) and the Unity Department often organize interfaith dialogues, but they are not open because a public forum will cause tension,” she said at a press conference today.

As such, the interfaith dialogue which has been organised by Ikim to discuss the ‘Allah’ issue on Jan 21 will be a closed door affair.

Mashitah ( left ) spoke on behalf of the Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of Islamic affairs, Jamil Khir Baharom who had earlier said the government will hold more interfaith dialogues to educate people on religion.   

When asked about another closed door discussion which took place among Muslim NGOs on the same issue a t Masjid Wilayah yesterday, she said that was to signal the stand of Malaysian Muslims.

“The signal is that Malaysian Muslims take the issue very seriously, and the Herald should take note of this,” she said.

She added that there is “nothing wrong” with asking the Council of Rulers to take action, as this could assist in efforts to reach a resolution.   

‘Solve it in court’

Explaining the government’s plans to tackle the problem, which has led to the eleventh place of worship to be attacked today, Mashitah said their stand is to solve the matter in court, as proceedings are already underway.

“It started in (civil) court, so it should be resolved in court...Things should be addressed by looking at their roots. In this case, the root is a publication issue, not a religious issue,” she said.

As such, she said, there is no need to take up the matter with the Syariah Courts.

Responding to a question on Jamil Khir’s call for the Christian community to drop the usage of the word ‘Allah’, she said that it was a reasonable request as it is supported by the law.

“There are provisions in the state enactments which prohibit the use of certain words commonly used by Muslims, like ‘ solat ’, ‘ kiblat ’ and ‘ baitullah ',”she said.

pj old town good shepherd lutran church arson attempt crowd Mashitah also refuted claims by some that the fact that the word ‘Allah’ is used by non-Muslims in other countries like Indonesia legitimizes its use by non-Muslims in Malaysia.  

“We are different from Indonesia, where these words are used freely by non-Muslims. In our society, the prolonged use of such words by non-Muslims will cause tension between races,” she said.

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