In a statement, the council’s president Archbishop Meltar Jiki Tais said the proposal, which was mooted earlier today by home minister Hamzah Zainudin was “inappropriate” as the government was already appealing the High Court’s recent decision.

On March 10, High Court judge Nor Bee Ariffin ruled that a Dec 5, 1986 home ministry directive to prohibit the use of the words “Allah”, “Baitullah”, “Solat” and “Kaabah” by non-Muslims was illegal and unconstitutional.

The judge said the directive was wrongly issued as it went beyond the aims of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.

On Monday, the government filed an appeal against the High Court ruling that Christians were now not subject to the 1986 directive and therefore not prohibited from using the word “Allah” in their religious education and books.

“With abundance of caution, since the matter is now in the Court of Appeal, we are of the view that it is highly inappropriate for the issue to be resolved through a dialogue initiated by the home ministry, who are now one of the appellants.”

He went on to say that the Christian community in Malaysia, especially those in Sabah and Sarawak are and have always been willing to live in “peace, harmony and mutual respect with communities of other religions.”

In her judgement, Nor Bee said the then government under Dr Mahathir Mohamad in 1986 had allowed Christians to use four words including Allah in their publications on the condition that it must be stated “For Christians Only” on the front page of such materials.

The Cabinet came out with the policy decision in May 1986, but in December 1986, a home ministry official, on behalf of the secretary-general, issued a directive to all Christian publications that the four words were totally prohibited.