'Allah' issue - Anwar reminded all parties not to distort facts, deceive people

KUALA LUMPUR - Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today reminded all parties not to distort the facts pertaining to the use of the word Allah to deceive the people.

When explaining the allegations that he had misled the Dewan Rakyat on the matter, Anwar stressed that he had not given any contradictory statements in regard to his audience with the Sultan of Selangor last week.

"What the Sultan of Selangor said in his statement (after the audience) was on the matter concerning the Cabinet's decision to seek the Rulers' consent for the word of Allah to be used in Peninsular Malaysia with restrictions for (non-Muslims in Sabah and Sarawak."Since there is an amendment, His Majesty suggested that it be scrutinised and clarified to the National Council for Islamic Religious Affairs (MKI) that he himself (the Sultan) could bring it to the Conference of Rulers' meeting.

"So, how is that contradictory? Why do you want to distort the facts? To deceive the people? Please do not lie just for the sake of gaining political mileage," he said during the Minister's Question Time at the Dewan Rakyat sitting today.

Anwar said this in reply to Datuk Dr Zulkafperi Hanapi (PN-Tanjong Karang) who used Standing Order 36(12) to demand for the Prime Minister to be referred to the Rights and Freedom Committee for allegedly making contradictory statements.

Zulkafperi referred to Anwar's statement at the Dewan Rakyat on May 23 denying the allegation that the government did not refer to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong before withdrawing its appeal on the High Cour's decision concerning the use of the word 'Allah'.

According to Zulkafperi, this was because the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah's statement on June 7 implied that the government had not referred the matter to the Conference of Rulers before withdrawing the appeal.

In the statement, the Sultan, as MKI chairman, also called for the issue to be taken to MKI's meeting in August before it is further discussed at the Conference of Rulers' meeting in October.

At the same time, the Prime Minister said the government's decision to withdraw the appeal had been referred to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri'ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah through a telephone call he made to the King during the Cabinet meeting on Feb 7.

"If you had read the statement correctly, it is not confusing at all and the matter was indeed referred to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong," he added. - BERNAMA