Muslim Blog Muslim BlogKUALA LUMPUR, May 5 — The High Court today ruled that the use of the word “Allah” is bound by an earlier Court of Appeal decision, as it rejected an application by a Sabah evangelical church to challenge the seizure of its children’s books by the Home Ministry seven years ago.
Justice Datuk Zaleha Yusof ruled that she has no choice but to a abide by the unanimous decision of the superior court, that the use of the Arabic word for God is not an integral part of the faith and practice of Christianity.
“Though the ruling was limited to the Herald, all the learned judges ruled that the use of Allah is not an integral part of the practice and faith of Christianity,” she said, referring to last year’s ruling against allowing the use of the word by Catholic weekly, the Herald.
“The lower courts are bound by the decision of the superior court, so the seizure by the Home Ministry is not unconstitutional,” she said in her judgement that was handed to case lawyers by the High Court Registrar’s office.
The Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church filed its lawsuit on December 10, 2007, seeking to quash the Home Ministry’s decision to seize three boxes of Malay-language Christian educational books that contained the word “Allah”.
The books, imported from Indonesia, were seized at the international budget airport terminal in Sepang on August 15, 2007 while in transit. They were later returned to the Sabah church on January 25, 2008.
In an immediate reaction, Sabah SIB president Rev Datuk Jerry Dusing said the church will instruct its lawyers to file an appeal against the High Court decision.
He maintained that the SIB lawsuit, unlike the Herald’s case, covered a much broader scope as it deals directly with the practice of the faith by their Malay-speaking congregation.
“We will push this to the Appeals Court. We will not rest… this is important not just for Sabah and Sarawak, but also for Malaysia,” he said when met after the judgement was pronounced.
Sabah SIB’s case is one of a string of legal challenges initiated by the Malaysian Christian community against the federal government over alleged infringement of their constitutional right to freely practise their religions.
On March 5, a seven-man panel in the Federal Court heard the Catholic Church’s application for leave to appeal a lower court ruling preventing the Herald from publishing the word “Allah”, but has postponed its decision indefinitely.
One other outstanding lawsuit is by Sarawakian Christian, Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, against the Home Ministry for seizing personal compact discs (CD) containing the word “Allah” back in May 2008.
Jill, a Melanau, filed her suit on August 20, 2008 seeking to quash the Home Ministry’s seizure of her CDs and a declaration that she has the right to own, use and import materials containing the word “Allah”.
The court is scheduled to review the ministry’s decision on May 15, nearly five years after she won leave for a judicial review in 2009.
- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com/malaysia/article/sabah-church-fails-allah-challenge-judge-says-bound-by-appeal-court-ruling#sthash.dmPmMBbB.dpuf
