Allah issue: Matter over use of word Allah still alive, says Appeals Court
(The Star) – The issue of whether the word Allah can be used in the Catholic Weekly Herald is “still alive” and the controversy has yet to be resolved, says Court of Appeal judge Justice Abu Samah Nordin.
He said the appellate court was of the view that the subject was not rendered academic as the usage of the word of “Allah” has yet to be decided.
“It is a drastic action to strike out an appeal that has been properly filed before this court and to deny the appellants’ right to appeal,” said Justice Abu Samah in his ruling which denied the application by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur to strike out the government’s appeal against a High Court ruling to allow Herald to use the word “Allah.”
He said the subject of the appeal was still a live issue and that the controversy has yet to be resolved.
Justice Abu Samah led a panel consisting of Justices Abdul Aziz Abdul Rahim and Rohana Yusuf.
Hearing for the appeal has been fixed for Sept 10.
Earlier, counsel for the Church, Porries Royan, submitted that in the 10-point solution signed by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak on April 11, 2011, the Government had allowed the importation and publication of bibles in all languages including Malay with the word Allah without restriction.
He argued that by extension, the Herald which quotes the Bible, too should be allowed to use the word.
Senior Federal Counsel Suzanna Atan, for the Government, replied that the application was frivolous as there were many live and comprehensive issues to be trial.
Lawyer for Terengganu Islamic Religious Council, Mubashir Mansor, submitted that it was premature to strike out the appeal, as the Cabinet’s decision to allow the Bible to be distributed in Malay had nothing to do with the government’s appeal.
His stand was also adopted by the religious councils from Selangor, Kedah, Johor, Wilayah Persekutuan and Malacca, which were made interveners.
The Roman Catholic Archbishop filed the application to strike out the government’s appeal On July 9.
The Home Ministry and the government had appealed against the Dec 31, 2009 High Court decision in allowing the church’s judicial review to lift the Ministry’s ban on the use of the word Allah in the Herald to refer to the Christian god.
The church, led by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, filed the judicial review on Feb 16, 2009, naming the Home Ministry and the government as respondents.
They sought, among others, a declaration that the decision by the Home Ministry on Jan 7, 2009, prohibiting the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the Herald was illegal and that the word ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to the religion of Islam.
The weekly, published in four languages, has been using the word ‘Allah’ as a translation for ‘God’ in its Malay-language section, but the government argued that ‘Allah’ should be used exclusively only by Muslims.
