High Court: Catholic paper still can’t use the word ‘Allah’
Written by Chua Sue-Ann, The Edge
Catholic weekly The Herald is still prohibited from using the word "Allah" in its Bahasa Malaysia version after the Kuala Lumpur High Court today quashed an application to stay its annual publication permit's condition.
The Herald was seeking to quash the condition attached to its annual publication permit dated Jan 7, 2009 by the home ministry that the Catholic paper cannot use the word "Allah" in its Bahasa Malaysia section pending the court's decision in its judicial review.
Judge Lau Bee Lan, at the Special Appellate and Powers division, heard submissions and delivered the decision today in chambers.
Deputy public prosecutor Andi Razalijaya A Dadi later told reporters that Lau dismissed Herald's stay application because the state enactment made it an offence for non-muslims to use the word "Allah".
"Allah" is among the restricted words "which are not to be associated with a non-Islamic religion", under Section 9 (Schedule 1) of the Control and Restriction of the Propogation of Non-Islamic Religions Enactment.
According to Andi, Lau said if the court allowed the Herald's request for the stay, "the court will be supporting the offence to be committed".
The High Court also fixed July 7 to hear the substantive arguments in the judicial review sought by Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam on behalf of The Herald.
Pakiam on Feb 16 applied for a court declaration that The Herald was entitled to use the word "Allah", that the word was not exclusive to Islam and that Herald had the constitutional right to use the word under Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution.
Pakiam also sought the court to declare null and void the internal security ministry (now home affairs ministry) and the government's decision to prohibit The Herald from using the word "Allah" in its publication.
The usage of the word "Allah" by Christians sparked public debate after The Herald faced problems renewing its annual publishing permit in December 2007, allegedly over the use of the word when referring to "God" in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
The Herald publishes news and information for Catholics in Malaysia in four languages — English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil.
