KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — Putrajaya’s withdrawal of an appeal in Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill’s case was meant to give the government time to “study” a 1986 directive that banned Christians from using the term “Allah” alongside three other words, Home Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution said today.
The Anwar administration has come under intense attack following the withdrawal ahead of six state elections slated for July, with the opposition ramping up its communal rhetoric to paint the so-called unity government as “anti-Islam”.
Saifuddin suggested in a statement posted on his Twitter that the entire legal dispute was never about who gets the exclusive right to use the word “Allah”, an Arabic term for “god” used widely by Christians in other countries including the Middle East.
Instead, the legal battle was centred on what he described as the contradictory directive issued by the Cabinet and Home Ministry respectively in May and December 1986.
“The lingering administrative issue regarding the seizure of Video CDs belonging to Jill Ireland was not an issue about the term ‘Allah’,” the minister said in a tweet posted at 9.15am today.
“As a responsible government, because there was a contradiction in the administrative directive issued in 1986... the government plans to conduct a more comprehensive study on the administrative directive with regards to the use of ‘Allah’,” Saifuddin added.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said in a statement yesterday that his government would seek an audience with the Conference of Rulers soon to “present its proposals to strengthen enforcement on the use of the word ‘Allah’”.
Anwar did not provide details about the proposals but suggested that it would not rattle “interracial and inter-religious unity and harmony”.
On Monday, Anwar’s government confirmed it had withdrawn its appeal against the 2021 High Court ruling in favour of the Sarawakian native, Jill Ireland.
The move put an end to the 15-year-long legal saga that began when the government seized the Sarawak Bumiputera’s eight educational CDs containing the word “Allah”, the Arabic word for God, which were for her own use.
Saifuddin today said the Home Ministry under his watch had studied the Jill Ireland case.
He claimed the Attorney General’s Chambers’ appeal filed in 2021, directed by the government of Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, was meant to give the government time to “study new facts, analyse the (High Court) judgment and consult various parties”.
