Putrajaya should have allowed 'Allah' use issue to be tested in court, says Muhyiddin

PETALING JAYA: The court should have been allowed to hear the "Allah" use case, says Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic).

The Perikatan Nasional chairman said he was disappointed with Putrajaya's recent decision to withdraw its appeal over the High Court ruling that allowed non-Muslims to use the word "Allah" as it involved Muslim sensitivities

"This case should have been decided according to the court legal process.

"If the decision was not in favour of the government after the appeal process concluded, then it would have been appropriate for the government to amend the law to ensure its objectives are enforced, which is to preserve harmony in a religiously diverse society and public peace," said Muhyiddin in a statement on Wednesday (May 17)

He also reminded the government that the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is the head of Islam in the Federal Territories while Malay Rulers are the heads of Islam in their respective states.

"Therefore, the decree of the Malay Rulers on this matter must be respected by the government," he added.

Muhyiddin also said that when he was the then home minister under the former Pakatan Harapan government, he had not agreed to a request for an out-of-court settlement in the case.

"I disagreed with this request because an out-of-court settlement meant that the Home Ministry was withdrawing its order to confiscate CDs of Christian religious material containing the word 'Allah'.

"The Home Ministry's stand was for that case to be decided by the courts," he said.

He argued that among the points brought up by the Home Ministry was that the dissemination of Christian material containing the word "Allah" could cause unease among Muslims and threaten public order and national security.

"When the High Court ruled in favour of Jill Ireland in 2021, the then Perikatan Nasional government was of the opinion that the case must be appealed.

"The decision to appeal to the Court of Appeal was also in line with the decree by Johor's Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar and Selangor's Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah," he said.

The appeal was initially scheduled for case management on May 19 but it will no longer be brought up as the government withdrew the appeal on April 18.

This put an end to the 15-year-long legal saga which began when the government seized a Sarawak bumiputra individual's eight educational compact discs (CDs), which contained the word.

On March 10, 2021, the High Court ruled in favour of the Sarawakian Christian from the Melanau tribe, Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, by granting three court orders she had sought.

This included a declaration that the government directive issued by the Home Ministry's publication control's division via a circular dated Dec 5, 1986 was "unlawful and unconstitutional."

On March 12, 2021, the Malaysian government and the Home Minister filed an appeal against the High Court's decision.