SEREMBAN: The decision to settle the use of "Allah" in Christian materials out-of-court during Pakatan Harapan's reign was made by the Cabinet, says Anthony Loke.
The DAP secretary-general said he personally did not raise the issue despite being part of the Cabinet then.
"The decision to try settle the matter out of court was made by Cabinet and probably Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin was not present during that meeting," he said when met at a ceremony to rename Jalan Temiang to Jalan Dr Chen Man Hin here today (May 18).
Loke was asked to respond to a statement by the Perikatan Nasional chairman that a DAP minister had previously requested that the government settle the case on the use of "Allah" in Christian religious materials out of court.
Muhyiddin, who was the Home Minister at the time, said he had not agreed to a request for an out-of-court settlement.
"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 materials containing the word 'Allah'," said Muhyiddin.
"The Home Ministry's stand was for that case to be decided by the courts," he added in a statement on Wednesday (May 17).
Loke said it was not fair for Muhyiddin to make a sweeping statement.
"This is not fair. First of all, who (which DAP minister) is he referring to?
"For him to make such a claim and put the burden on the DAP alone, we know what his political reasons are," added Loke.
Loke said the Home Ministry did not agree with Cabinet's suggestion and decided to continue with the court action.
"The Cabinet had suggested a comprehensive solution and to settle it out of court but this was rejected. The outcome was that the government lost the case at the High Court. That is the reality," he said.
He said the matter was also discussed at length during Wednesday's Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
"The Cabinet agreed that religious matters must be dealt with carefully as these are sensitive issues.
"Also, the Cabinet, as the country's highest-decision making body, will always safeguard the position of Islam and the Federal Constitution," he said.
The government had on April 18 filed a notice to withdraw its appeal against the High Court decision, which allowed the word "Allah", amongst others, to be used by non-Muslims in publications for educational purposes.
The appeal was initially scheduled for case management on May 19.
On March 10, 2021, the High Court had 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."
Two days later, the Malaysian government and the Home Minister filed an appeal against the High Court's decision.
With the withdrawal of the appeal, 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.
