Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun
KUCHING: Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) presidential council member Datuk Joseph Entulu Belaun has fired back at Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) Backbenchers Club with a list of questions in connection with the High Court decision on the use of the word ‘Allah’.
This comes after the Club slammed PSB president Dato Sri Wong Soon Koh for allegedly politicising the court decision when he claimed that the state’s ruling coalition had been silent on the matter.
“For GPS Backbenchers Club to allege that this issue is being politicised is merely an attempt to sidestep an awkward issue for GPS. The other component parties in GPS may shout their views from the rooftops but we all know that only PBB calls the shots in GPS,” Entulu said in a press statement, referring to Parti Pesaka Bumiputera Bersatu.
The High Court in Kuala Lumpur had last week ruled that the federal government’s ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims since 1986 was unconstitutional.
Entulu asked GPS what it had done to use its position as kingmaker in the formation of the Perikatan Nasional government to persuade the federal government to accept the court’s decision.
He also asked why certain groups of elected representatives did not lend their names to the bipartisan statement issued by 53 political leaders from Sarawak and Sabah to urge the federal government to drop its appeal against the High Court decision.
On the GPS Backbenchers Club’s remark that the coalition’s leaders have made various statements on the matter not just last week but in the past, Entulu said: “Certainly, when the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem was chief minister, he made clear his opposition to the federal directive to ban Christians from using the word ‘Allah’ in their religious education and books.
“Can the current Chief Minister Abang Johari declare what his own stand is on this issue?”
Entulu also touched on the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) under the Chief Minister’s Department and the financial support channeled through it.
The Chief Minister’s Office said in a statement yesterday that Christians in Sarawak have never been restricted in using the word ‘Allah’ in their religious practises.
“It has to be made clear that the GPS government from Tun Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud to Pehin Sri Adenan’s administration, and now the current administration, our policy on religious tolerance in Sarawak is consistent.
“The Muslims respect the Christians as much as the Christians respect the Muslims, and so with people of other religions. There has never been restriction for Christians in Sarawak to use the word ‘Allah’ with respect,” it said.
The statement added that the GPS government would continue to defend and preserve Sarawak’s religious tolerance as it is the core unifying factor for the people in the state, adding that its assistance for other religions through Unifor was testament of its stand.
It said that the ‘Allah’ word issue was being politicised in view of the impending state elections and that the GPS leadership trusts that the people would not be influenced but stand firm to protect religious unity in Sarawak.
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