The problem with the “Allah” ban
Because Section 8(1) of the ISA allows for detention without trial on persons who are deemed a threat to national security, the Home Ministry's move to place the ruling under the ISA effectively turned a religious matter into a national security issue.
By Deborah Loh and Shanon Shah, The Nut Graph
IT is bewildering that a gazette on such a significant matter of public interest as the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims was issued and then rescinded just 24 hours after it was announced.
Did not Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar spot the mistake in the ruling, which he signed? The gazette, it must be noted, was published on 16 Feb but was only announced on 26 Feb.
The fiasco illustrates how citizens can wake up one morning to find themselves subject to new laws their legislators in Parliament had little chance to debate — and the very next day, to find the laws have changed, again without debate.
Such arbitrariness in a process as important as making laws that affect citizens should be questioned. Indeed, what is a gazette? What powers are invested in the executive branch of government to pass gazettes, and is there room for dissent?
What is a gazette?
Nazri Aziz "The passing of laws that do not go through Parliament for approval, but become law after being published in the Government Gazette, is an administrative way of making laws," explains Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz.
"When we gazette that such and such words cannot be used (for example in the case of 'Allah'), it carries the enforcement of the law with it," he says in an interview in Parliament.
One recent example of a law that was enforced administratively is the rear seat belt ruling that took effect on 1 Jan 2009 under the Road Transport Act 1987.
The British Westminster parliamentary system allows for supplementary laws to be passed in this manner, provided that they are made under a specific Act. The Act itself is what has to be debated in Parliament, explains lawyer Sharmila Sekaran.
The parties involved in passing laws administratively are the relevant minister, the civil servants who draft the ruling, and the ministry's legal adviser or the Attorney-General's Chambers, which would be consulted in some cases.
"Practically, we must bear in mind that often, the minister has little real working knowledge in a particular area and thus will rely on advisers or civil servants," Sharmila says of the work that goes into drafting a law.
