More join Allah suit
by Soon Li Tsin, malaysiakini, 9 July.
More interveners are expected to participate in Herald’s legal challenge against the government ban on the Catholic weekly in using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
Kuala Lumpur High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan today heard counsels representing seven Islamic and one Sikh religious council expressing their vested interest in the case.
The appellate and special powers division judge proceeded to fix Nov 21 to give all interested intervening parties in the judicial review adequate time to respond to both the applicants and respondents.
She also agreed with Sulaiman Abdullah, who was representing the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council, that it would be more convenient for the court to hear the applications from all the state Islamic religious councils concurrently.
Herald’s counsel Porres Royan was equally in favour of the decision and stated that consistency is important for the Catholic newspaper in its pursuit for justice.
“We will need time to study the papers first and look closely so we can take proper instructions.
“My belief is that we have to be consistent that if we object to one, we object to all,” he surmised.
On March 19, applicant Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of KL Murphy Pakiam filed for a judicial review against the internal security minister (now home minister) and the government over an order that banned the Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section.
The government believes the word is exclusive to Muslims and threatened to close down the newspaper if it defied the prohibition.
Archbishop Pakiam on behalf of the Herald is seeking the following declarations from the court:
* for the ministry to declare that its decision to prohibit Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its publication is null and void; Herald is entitled to use the word ‘Allah’ in the publication and that the word ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to the religion of Islam.
* to quash the ministry’s decision in prohibiting Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its publication.
* an order for Herald to continue using ‘Allah’ in its publication until the court decides on the matter.
The Herald, which publishes news and information for Catholics in Malaysia in four languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil - has a circulation of around 12,000.
Porres was assisted by Leonard Teoh, Annou Xavier and Derek Fernandez while the government was represented by senior federal counsel Azizah Haji Nawawi and Nizam Zakaria.
New parties
The counsels for the state Islamic religious councils were Mubashir Mansor (Perak), Abdul Rahim Sinwan (Terengganu and Penang), Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar (Federal Territories), Muhammad Haniff Khatri Abdullah and Abdul Halim Bahari (Selangor and Kedah), Rozreen Wan Ramli and Ikbal Abd Salam (Johor).
They are seeking to intervene on grounds of being responsible for the administration of Islam and Islamic laws in their respective states.
The religious councils want to prevent any confusion that may threaten public peace or provoke religious sensitivities.
Appearing for the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council are Jagjit Singh, Joginder Singh and Balwant Singh Sidhu.
Their basis for intervening according to their affidavit filed by council president Jagir Singh is that “any prohibition on the usage of the word ‘Allah’ would mean Sikhs are not able to freely profess and practice their religion”.
The word ‘Allah’ appears in the Sikh holy book, the Sri Guru Granth Sahib Ji more than 40 times.
Granted that Abdullah is the worst leader that Umno has fielded to date - I would not hire him to be my driver let alone PM - but I don’t understand non-Umnorites joining in calls for him to step down. I don’t hear any other Umno leader speak about the directions that I want this country to head. They are not fairer or more reformist. They simply want power. Yet we parrot along as if the likes of Najib, Muhideen, Hisham or any of the others will dramatically improve our lives. It won’t.
Comment by socratestes — Saturday, 12-07-2008 @ 07: 52.05