Khairy: Kalimah Allah Issue Should Be Resolved By Selangor

The Selangor Government must take steps to resolve the Kalimah Allah issue, said Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the federal government had no power to interfere in the case of the seizure of Malay language Bibles at the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) early this month.

Khairy said this was because the jurisdiction of religious affairs – except for Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and Penang – was under the respective state religious enactment.

He said as far as the federal government was concerned, it stood by its commitment to the 10-point solution pertaining to the issue.

“These were among the three decisions which were agreed upon by the Cabinet, pertaining to the issue, during its weekly meeting yesterday.

“Our (Cabinet) position is clear. The Federal Government is committed to the 10-point solution. But the 10-point solution can’t supersede the state enactment of religious issues.

“For any discourse to happen, the issue must be addressed at state-level first. The problem now is, it is a state issue,” he told reporters when met at the Asli’s 16th Malaysia Strategic Outlook Conference here today.

Khairy said the Cabinet had also agreed that the temperature of the issue must cool down first, before the next step is taken.

The 10-point solution which was made in 2011, prior to the Sarawak state election, allowed Christians in Sabah and Sarawak to use the word ‘Allah’ in their Malay-language Bible.

Earlier when delivering a special luncheon address at the event, the Umno Youth chief said the current environment of technology and information accessibility had witnessed more young people to become opinion leaders in their community in various issues affecting the country.

However, he said their concern must not end with vocalisation but must also follow with action such as a coherent plan to actualise their goals.

“It is clear that the youth want their opinions to be taken seriously, but to do this, there must be political literacy. Without basic knowledge regarding the democratic process, it is difficult to map out a strategy that will allow them to influence matters at the decision-making level,” added Khairy.