Allah issue: Rulers to receive results of engagement sessions

The Home Ministry will present the results of engagements with stakeholders regarding the issue of regulating publications containing the word ‘Allah’ to the Council of Rulers.

Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail said the presentation will occur at the end of this month.

He said the input obtained from five engagement sessions would shape the new administrative directive on the use of the word Allah, and it needed to be presented to the Council of Rulers which is the highest religious authority in the country.

“We have to present it there (Council of Rulers) and any input there, whether additional views and so on, we will bring it back to the ministry to examine the matter which will be a guide for us to draft a new administrative directive,” he said.

He was speaking to the media after attending the ministry’s engagement session with religious harmony management bodies in Putrajaya yesterday.

Also present were National Unity Minister Aaron Ago Dagang and Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Mohd Na’im Mokhtar.

According to Saifuddin (above), the five engagement sessions involved Islamic scholars and teachers; academicians, sociologists, and public safety experts; activists in the field of civil and syariah law; Malaysian syariah management bodies; and religious harmony management bodies.

He said the engagement sessions were held following the High Court’s decision on March 10, 2021, which allowed a judicial review application by a Christian woman, Jill Ireland, who sought a declaration of her constitutional right regarding the use of the word ‘Allah’ in publications related to her religion.

“The agenda is to help create a new administrative directive following the High Court’s decision in the Jill Ireland case, which rendered the previous administrative directive no longer applicable,” he said.

According to Saifuddin, in yesterday’s engagement session, the participants voiced that the government should work to resolve the issue related to the use of the word Allah ‘once and for all’ to prevent any elements causing unease or discomfort among the multi-religious community in Malaysia.

On June 5, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah expressed deep concern over the issue of the use of the word Allah which he feared would become a prolonged polemic and could affect national unity and the well-being of the country if not resolved immediately.

Sultan Abdullah decreed that the government should harmonise the situation and at the same time, place the use of the word Allah in the right context by taking into account national security, the benefit of the Muslim community, as well as the position of His Majesty and other Malay rulers as heads of the Islam in the country.

- Bernama

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