Friday, August 6, 2010

MCA: Resolve ‘Allah’ issue fast

PETALING JAYA: Christian groups want the issue over the use of the word Allah in Christian publications to be resolved as soon as possible, said MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek.

“The MCA presidential council held a dialogue with the Christian Federation of Malaysia last week and the non-governmental organisation felt there was a need for the issue to be resolved as soon as possible,” said Dr Chua in a press statement.

He clarified that the MCA did not share the same stand with the DAP on the call to lift the ban on the use of “Allah” by non-Muslims.

Dr Chua explained that the MCA was only voicing out the wish of the NGO because the issue had not been resolved since it was brought up last year.

“We are not making the same stand as DAP. We only want the Barisan Nasional government to resolve the issue as soon as possible so that it will not be exploited further by the Opposition,” said Dr Chua.

The MCA president was responding to a statement yesterday by Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, who said he did not understand why the MCA, as a component party of the Barisan, had joined the stand taken by DAP in calling for the ban on the use of the word Allah to be lifted.

“The (Barisan) component parties agreed it (the issue over the use of the word Allah) should not be debated any more, as it will heat up matters that have since cooled down.

“It is best not to start the issue again. Consider the interest of the public and not the interest of any specific group, be it a political or administrative group,” the Deputy Prime Minister told a press conference after chairing the Cabinet Committee on Youth Development meeting here yesterday.

He was commenting on calls by several parties that Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein lift the ban on the use of the word Allah in Christian publications.

Muhyiddin said it was best that all parties leave it to the courts to decide.

The Star - Wednesday August 4, 2010

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