By Debra Chong - The Malaysian Insider
While his Cabinet colleagues, including fellow Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Jamil Khir Baharom, have been pushing to bring religious leaders to the table to settle the simmering stew, Nazri says it is too late for a dialogue.
“It’s too late. I’ve mentioned it many times,” the minister in charge of law and parliamentary affairs said when asked his opinion on the best way to resolve dilemma, which appears to be pitting the Malaysian Muslim community against the non-Muslims.
“It was the failure of the rundingan that resulted in the matter being brought to court,” he pointed out.
“It’s not the fault of the government. Let it be known that it was Tan Sri Pakiam, not the government, who brought the matter to court,” Nazri stressed.
The Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Reverend Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam representing the Roman Catholic Church had taken the federal government to court after the home minister banned the church newspaper from publishing the word “Allah” three years ago.
The High Court, had on December 31 last year, ruled that Herald had the constitutional right to publish the word in the Christian publication,to cater to its Bahasa Malaysia-speaking followers.
If there was to be any out-of-court settlement over the “Allah” row, Pakiam, as the official publisher of Herald — the Catholic Weekly, must make the first move, the government minister added.
“I got no choice as the minister in charge of law. Because of Tan Sri Pakiam, I must be the person to advise the government that we must use the courts-lah,” Nazri, who is also Padang Renggas MP said.
He said if he did not take that stand, the public would also lose their confidence in the country’s judiciary system.
“If I don’t do that, people may say, ‘Apa ini, menteri undang-undang tak konfiden dengan mahkamah ke? (What is this, the law minister is not confident with the court?)” Nazri added, half-jokingly.
“We must respect the system. So I’m using the court system to appeal the court decision,” he said.
Nazri did not reply when asked if he had read for himself the written grounds of judgment by High Court judge Datuk Lau Bee Lan which was released last week.
Instead, he noted that the judge is not a Muslim, and had ruled over a matter that concerned the “akidah” (faith) of the Muslim community.
“You must study the psyche of the Malays. The Chinese can be Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, no problem, but the Malays, the race itself is defined in the Constitution,” he said.
“Who is a Malay? In the Constitution, a Malay is one: a Muslim; two: speaks Malay and three: practises Malay culture. In the Constitution, there can’t be a Malay who is not a Muslim. Anything at all, any suspicion will confuse the ordinary Malays. They become so protective because Malay and Islam cannot be separate,” Nazri pointed out.
The Umno man said in the Borneo states the people had embraced the “1 Malaysia” concept a long time ago, unlike in the west where racial lines are still very apparent.
“I’m very liberal, I’m very confident, but if I try to explain to them... no way,” Nazri disclosed, referring to his contituents when asked how real the worry was that Christians would try and convert Muslims if the High Court ruling was upheld.
“For us,” he said, signalling to the reporters surrounding him at a post-launch press conference for consumer awareness on public transportation at the inter-city bus hub, a five-minute walk from Masjid Jamek, “it’s only a word. But for a Malay, it’s not. It’s their psyche.”
“Those people not in politics, they can say anything. But people like me, I depend on my voters,” the federal lawmaker said.
“I may look liberal but my constituents are not,” he added.
“Actually, in my opinion, I prefer to let it be,” Nazri continued.
“If everyone prays to Allah, they’ll all be Muslim. It’s a good ploy for Muslims to convert non-Muslims,” he quipped.
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