Bishop Paul Tan: ‘Allah’ decision not written in stone

Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing described the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss the Catholic Church’s review application in the ‘Allah’ case as the “triumph of politics over judicial reasoning based on the constitution”.

Jan 29, 2015

JOHOR BAHRU: Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing described the Federal Court’s decision to dismiss the Catholic Church’s review application in the ‘Allah’ case as the “triumph of politics over judicial reasoning based on the constitution”.

The long-running legal dispute over the right of Catholic weekly HERALD to use the term ‘Allah’ for God in the Bahasa Malaysia pages of the paper ended on Wednesday when the apex court unanimously held that there was no procedural unfairness to an earlier panel of judges’ decision to dismiss the Roman Catholic Church’s application for a review.

“In effect, the Federal Court was saying that the powers-that-be can interfere in the way that people professing minority religions in Malaysia practice their faith,” said Bishop Paul, who is head of the Johor-Malacca diocese of the Catholic Church.

“This decision has ominous implications for the Federal Constitution’s guarantee of freedom of religion to Malaysian citizens,” opined the Jesuit-trained prelate.

“Whichever way you look at this protracted dispute, you cannot run away from the fact that the final finding of the apex court justifies executive shackles on the way minority religions’ practice their faith,” expatiated the bishop.

“Nobody with due regard for the constitutional guarantee of freedom of religion can help but be distressed by this development,” he declared.

Bishop Paul’s criticisms of the court decision were more nuanced, in that he drew comfort from his understanding of constitutional history wherein, he said, judicial decisions on the great questions of the day do not become settled doctrine until they have met with repeated tests at the bar of judgment.

“The findings of one panel today may be overturned by the deliberations of another panel tomorrow as judicial reasoning evolves and takes account of new imperatives and considerations,” he reasoned.

Bishop Paul said he took heart that even as an apex court panel has, in effect, rejected the right of Catholics to use the term ‘Allah” for God, an appellate court has come out with a decision that says the primacy rendered Islam in the constitution did not supersede the grant of fundamental liberties rendered citizens by the same document.

“This is what I mean when I say that judicial deliberations on the great questions of the day are not written in stone but evolve in response to the felt necessities of the times and the prevailing moral and political theories,” argued Bishop Paul. -- Malaysiakini

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