KUALA LUMPUR, June 7 — The Conference of Rulers is expected to consider this October the issue of non-Muslims’ use of the word “Allah” in Malaysia, after an advisory council to the Rulers discusses the same issue this August, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today.
Anwar said this after his meeting today with the Selangor Sultan, who is also the chair of the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs.
“After discussing with the DYMM Sultan Selangor, I respect the view of His Royal Highness in line with the Cabinet’s May decision that the issue of the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak is more suited to be streamlined and explained to the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) which has the role of advising the Conference of Rulers.
“In relation to that, His Royal Highness as the MKI chairman has agreed for this matter to be discussed by that council this August, before it is brought for the Conference of Rulers’ consideration and scrutiny this October,” Anwar said in a statement today.
Anwar said the federal government’s stand is to recognise and apply the existing policy which limits the use of the word “Allah” to Muslims in Peninsular Malaysia and to give conditional relaxing of this policy for non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak.
“The government also gives the commitment to streamline the existing policy based on the Conference of Rulers’ decision which will be upheld as a final policy in relation to the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims in Malaysia,” he said.
Earlier in the statement, Anwar said he had in today’s meeting conveyed to the Selangor sultan about the federal government’s decision in a Court of Appeal case involving a Sarawakian Bumiputera Christian, Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill.
“During that audience session, I explained the federal government’s stand in respecting the laws in effect in states and the role of the Malay rulers acting as the head of Islam in their states in determining matters relating to Islam at the state level and the role of the Conference of Rulers in determining matters relating to Islam at the federal level,” Anwar said regarding his meeting with the Selangor ruler.
On May 17, Anwar announced that the Cabinet had obtained the Yang di-Pertuan Agong’s royal assent to present proposals to the Conference of Rulers to strengthen the enforcement of policy regarding the word “Allah”, with the intention of resolving the matter in a more comprehensive manner while also strengthening unity and harmony among the different religions and races in Malaysia.
The “Allah” issue returned to the limelight, after news emerged on May 15 of the Malaysian government’s withdrawal of its appeal in the Jill Ireland case.
In March 2021, the High Court in Jill Ireland’s case quashed the Home Ministry’s December 1986 ban on the use of the word “Allah” in all Christian publications in Malaysia, declaring the December 1986 directive as unconstitutional and unlawful.
The Malaysian government on April 18 dropped its appeal against the High Court’s March 2021 decision, with subsequent explanations that it was because the December 1986 directive was inapplicable and that a more comprehensive directive would be studied.
The Sabah Council of Churches (SCC) recently said a Sabah church — Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) — had on April 25 dropped a similar lawsuit on the December 1986 directive on the word “Allah”, as a “reciprocal” act to match the government’s withdrawal of its appeal in Jill Ireland’s case and for the sake of national harmony and unity.
Both court cases were sparked by the government’s seizure of educational and religious materials meant for the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Jill Ireland’s personal use and the Sabah church’s own children, due to the use of the word “Allah”.
With the dropping of both cases, there are now no longer any outstanding court cases in Malaysia involving the local Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christian community’s use of the word “Allah” in publications for Christians.
The word “Allah” is Arabic for God and had been adopted into the Malay language, and had been used for generations and hundreds of years by Malay-speaking Christians in the country — especially the natives or Bumiputera community of Sabah and Sarawak and Orang Asli in the peninsula — in the practice of their religion and professing of their faith.
