The newly-formed National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) is "not confident" of brokering a peaceful outcome to the dispute over the use of the word ‘Allah’.

 

Asked if it could intervene, NUCC chairperson Samsudin Osman said: "We are not confident, but we are hopeful.

 

"I cannot say if we are confident or not but we will work as hard as possible to see if there is a solution ... We can try.”

 

Some conservative Muslim groups will not allow Christians to use the term while there are Christian groups which insist that this should be allowed when prayer services are conducted in Bahasa Malaysia.

The Selangor sultan has decreed that non-Muslims cannot use the word, while the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 lists 'Allah' among the 25 words and phrases which non-Muslims cannot use.

Samsudin qualified that the NUCC, at its meeting today, did not discuss the use of ‘Allah’ but rather the raid on the Bible Society Malaysia and confiscation of more than 300 copies of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban Bible by the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) on Jan 2.

This was because the Bible translated into these languages refer to ‘Allah’ for God.

"The decision (on the use of ‘Allah’) is for the religious people to sort out," Samsudin said.

"We are talking about infringement of a place of worship. We don't want that to happen again. Nobody should interfere with another community's religion.”

He said there should be a "cooling-off period” during which decisions can be made "rationally and not with emotions".

However, he said the NUCC did not take a stand on whether the seized copies of the Bible should be returned.

‘Unity dialogues’ planned

Deputy chairperson Lee Lam Thye said the council’s main objective is to come up with a national blueprint on unity.

"However, (the seizure of the Bible) has occurred, and we had to also discuss this and make a stand on this," he told Malaysiakini.

To develop the blueprint, the NUCC will hold 'unity dialogues' or townhall meetings to get grassroots views in 17 towns and cities from Feb 22.

The first unity dialogue will be held in the Klang Valley.

Other locations include Alor Setar, Seremban, Malacca, Johor Bahru, Kota Bharu, Kuala Terengganu, Kota Kinabalu, Labuan, Sandakan, Penang and Sibu.

The NUCC has been tasked with presenting the interim report in six months.