Sarawak Christian’s challenge set to test limits of ‘Allah’ ban

Jun 30, 2014

SARAWAK: Putrajaya’s assertion that its ban on Christians using “Allah” is restricted to a Catholic paper will be put to test today when the High Court decides whether a Sarawakian Christian is allowed to possess religious compact discs containing the Arabic word for God.

All eyes will be on today’s case to gauge if the Court of Appeal ruling on the subject — now the case authority on the issue, after the Federal Court declined to hear the appeal last week — will intrude into other aspects of Christian worship notwithstanding the government’s assurances.

Already, the fallout from the appellate court ruling that found “Allah” as not integral to the Christian faith has been seen, when the High Court ruled against Sabah’s Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) in its challenge against the seizure of three boxes of religious material bearing the term.

But the silver lining for Christians and adherents of other non-Muslim faiths that use “Allah” is Chief Justice Tan Sri Arifin Zakaria’s decision to relegate the contentious portion of the judgment to an obiter—a passing remark, in legal jargon—rather than binding judgment.

This critical move essentially permits other judges hearing similar cases in the future to disregard the Court of Appeal’s opinion on how vital “Allah” is to Christians.

“Arifin, himself, had stated that the that part of the Court of Appeal’s judgement was merely a comment,” Annou Xavier, the lawyer for Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, told The Malay Mail Online.

“As far as the other ‘Allah’ cases are concerned, it has no effect.”

Beyond the appellate court’s opinion on the Christian use of “Allah”, Annou also previously argued that the circumstances of his client’s case differed from that of the Catholic Church’s.

He insisted that Jill Ireland was an individual rather than a religious body, and is simply seeking her right as an individual to use the CDs for her personal use and not in any publication for mass consumption.

But lawyer Andrew Khoo, who is holding a watching brief for the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) — another Christian group caught up in the same issue in Selangor — was skeptical that effects of the Court of Appeal decision will be as limited as claimed.

He also noted that the same High Court judge who ruled against Sabah SIB, Zaleha Yusof, is the one who will decide today’s case.

When deciding the case last month, she had said that she was bound by the higher court’s decision on the matter.

“But I’m hoping that the Federal Court’s view will prevail,” said Khoo, when contacted.

Jill Ireland’s is one of three high-profile cases on the Christian use of “Allah” — which Muslims here claim to be exclusive to Islam—and the only one of that remains undecided.

Last week, a seven-member bench at the country’s highest court decided by a four-to-three majority to deny the Catholic Church the right to appeal a lower court decision preventing it from using the word “Allah” in its newsletter.

The case was considered pivotal to determine the rights of non-Muslims to use “Allah” in their worship, including that of Jill Ireland’s.

On May 11, 2008, the Home Ministry confiscated eight CDs bearing the word “Allah” from Jill Ireland at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal airport in Sepang, prompting her to challenge its decisions in court.

In August the same year, the Bumiputera Christian filed for judicial review of the Home Ministry’s actions and a return of the CDs, and she is seeking for a declaration that she has the right to own, use and import materials containing the word “Allah”.

The case was previously postponed to allow the Federal Court to dispose of the Catholic Church’s case.

Christians make up close to 10 per cent or 2.6 million of the Malaysian population of 30 million.

Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and live in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.--The Malay Mail Online