Church to appeal on 'Allah' decision
The Archbishop of the Catholic Church is scheduled to file a review of the Federal Court decision barring the use of the word 'Allah' in its Herald weekly's Bahasa Malaysia edition, which is specifically catered for Sabah and Sarawak.
Lawyers for the Archbishop said they will file an application to review the decision of the seven-member bench of the highest court in the country.
"We will file the review but the papers are not ready yet," said one of the lawyers from the legal team.
It is understood they may file the papers for a review next week, at the earliest.
The Federal Court in a narrow four-to-three decision disallowed leave to appeal in the highly charged case, over the use of the word `Allah' when the Court of Appeal ruled it was exclusive to Muslims.
The then archbishop who filed the judicial review in 2009 was Reverend Murphy Pakiam. The Vatican last month appointed Rev Julian Leow, from Penang, to replace Pakiam, who retired at the age of 75.
'Ban not based on theological issue'
In the majority decision on June 23, Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, who led the panel, ruled that the Home Ministry's ban barring Catholics from using the term 'Allah' in the publication was not based on any theological issue .
Justice Arifin ( left ) further described part of Court of Appeal judgment on theological issues as obiter (words of opinion entirely unnecessary for the decision on a case).
The Home Ministry ban on the word from being used was because of security and public order concerns. However, lawyers appearing for the archbishop said this was against the rights outlined under civil liberties.
The Court of Appeal, in unanimously over-ruling the Kuala Lumpur High Court's Dec 31, 2009, landmark decision, had ruled that `Allah' is not integral to the Christian faith.
Besides Justice Arifin, the judges who ruled against the church's application were Court of Appeal President Justice Md Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin and Federal Court judge Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar.
All three judges in favour of allowing permission to hear the appeal wrote three separate judgments of why the appeal should be heard.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum in allowing the appeal to be heard said the Herald had been in circulation for 14 years, without any untoward incident and that the Court of Appeal judgment seems to indicate a blanket ban on non-Muslims not to use the word.
Federal Court judge Justice Zainun Ali, the only Muslim judge who ruled for the appeal to be heard, wants the issue to resolved amicably and pleaded that peace and sanity should prevail.
Another Federal Court judge, Justice Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha, ruled that the constitutional questions should be answered by the Federal Court as they are too grave to be answered.
An uphill task
As the Federal Court in the case had composite a seven-member bench when the decision was made last June, a bench of seven or more judges would be tasked in hearing any review of the June decision.
The country had never seen a sitting of a full nine-member bench before, with the highest composition of judges sitting on important and landmark cases had been seven at the most.
Furthermore, the same judges who heard the case are usually not allowed to hear the review.
Hence, other Federal Court judges who may be brought in to hear the review could be Federal Court judges Justices Abdull Hamid Embong, Ahmad Ma'arop, Hasan Lah, Zaleha Zahari, Abu Samah Nordin and Ramly Ali.
However, it is understood Justice Zaleha would be retiring in November, and to make up the other composition, Court of Appeal judges would be brought in to hear the review.
Jill Ireland also filing appeal
In an unrelated matter, Melanau clerk Jill Ireland has also filed an appeal, before the Court of Appeal, on the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on the Allah matter, which led to the seizure of religious CDs she brought from Indonesia.
Although the KL High Court had ordered the CDs to be returned to the authorities, she is pursuing her rights for freedom of religion, right to use the word Allah word in her prayers and education and her right as a Christian to use, import, own and distribute Christian publications to the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christian community of Malaysia.
"The appeal was filed on Monday," her lawyer Annou Xavier ( left ) said.
The government also filed a notice of appeal on the KL High Court decision on July 21.- Mkini
Lawyers for the Archbishop said they will file an application to review the decision of the seven-member bench of the highest court in the country.
"We will file the review but the papers are not ready yet," said one of the lawyers from the legal team.
It is understood they may file the papers for a review next week, at the earliest.
The Federal Court in a narrow four-to-three decision disallowed leave to appeal in the highly charged case, over the use of the word `Allah' when the Court of Appeal ruled it was exclusive to Muslims.
The then archbishop who filed the judicial review in 2009 was Reverend Murphy Pakiam. The Vatican last month appointed Rev Julian Leow, from Penang, to replace Pakiam, who retired at the age of 75.
'Ban not based on theological issue'
In the majority decision on June 23, Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, who led the panel, ruled that the Home Ministry's ban barring Catholics from using the term 'Allah' in the publication was not based on any theological issue .
Justice Arifin ( left ) further described part of Court of Appeal judgment on theological issues as obiter (words of opinion entirely unnecessary for the decision on a case).
The Home Ministry ban on the word from being used was because of security and public order concerns. However, lawyers appearing for the archbishop said this was against the rights outlined under civil liberties.
The Court of Appeal, in unanimously over-ruling the Kuala Lumpur High Court's Dec 31, 2009, landmark decision, had ruled that `Allah' is not integral to the Christian faith.
Besides Justice Arifin, the judges who ruled against the church's application were Court of Appeal President Justice Md Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Justice Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin and Federal Court judge Justice Suriyadi Halim Omar.
All three judges in favour of allowing permission to hear the appeal wrote three separate judgments of why the appeal should be heard.
Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Justice Richard Malanjum in allowing the appeal to be heard said the Herald had been in circulation for 14 years, without any untoward incident and that the Court of Appeal judgment seems to indicate a blanket ban on non-Muslims not to use the word.
Federal Court judge Justice Zainun Ali, the only Muslim judge who ruled for the appeal to be heard, wants the issue to resolved amicably and pleaded that peace and sanity should prevail.
Another Federal Court judge, Justice Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha, ruled that the constitutional questions should be answered by the Federal Court as they are too grave to be answered.
An uphill task
As the Federal Court in the case had composite a seven-member bench when the decision was made last June, a bench of seven or more judges would be tasked in hearing any review of the June decision.
The country had never seen a sitting of a full nine-member bench before, with the highest composition of judges sitting on important and landmark cases had been seven at the most.
Furthermore, the same judges who heard the case are usually not allowed to hear the review.
Hence, other Federal Court judges who may be brought in to hear the review could be Federal Court judges Justices Abdull Hamid Embong, Ahmad Ma'arop, Hasan Lah, Zaleha Zahari, Abu Samah Nordin and Ramly Ali.
However, it is understood Justice Zaleha would be retiring in November, and to make up the other composition, Court of Appeal judges would be brought in to hear the review.
Jill Ireland also filing appeal
In an unrelated matter, Melanau clerk Jill Ireland has also filed an appeal, before the Court of Appeal, on the Kuala Lumpur High Court's decision on the Allah matter, which led to the seizure of religious CDs she brought from Indonesia.
Although the KL High Court had ordered the CDs to be returned to the authorities, she is pursuing her rights for freedom of religion, right to use the word Allah word in her prayers and education and her right as a Christian to use, import, own and distribute Christian publications to the Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christian community of Malaysia.
"The appeal was filed on Monday," her lawyer Annou Xavier ( left ) said.
The government also filed a notice of appeal on the KL High Court decision on July 21.- Mkini
