Dr Sim slams Shafie for playing up ‘Allah’ issue

KUCHING: Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian has criticised Parti Warisan Sabah president Datuk Seri Shaf ie Apdal for playing up religion-based sentiments or being totally ignorant of the laws when he wrongly called on the federal government to allow nonMuslims in Sabah and Sarawak to use the word ‘Allah’.

According to Dr Sim, who is also Sarawak United People's Party (SUPP) president, Shafie should not incite hatred and fan religious conf licts by falsely implying that people in Sabah and Sarawak are not allowed to use the word ‘Allah’ when there is no such restriction.

He also commented that the people of Sarawak and Sabah, whether Christians or Muslims or of any other religion, have been free to use the ‘Allah’ word and there has never been any restrictions - whether under State Law or Federal Law as it was clearly spelled out in the 10-point solution which had been agreed on by the federal government in April 2011.

"In addition, safeguards to guarantee religious freedom in the Federation were put in place in Paragraph 15 of the Inter-Governmental Committee (IGC) Report 1962 and Article 3 (1) of the Federal Constitution whereby ‘Islam is the religion of the Federation; but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony in any part of the Federation’. This includes the freedom for the non-Muslims in Sarawak and Sabah to use ‘Allah’ in their Bible or kitab as they have been doing so for hundreds of years even before the formation of Malaysia," he added when speaking to reporters yesterday.