Putrajaya challenges court verdict on Christian CDs with the word Allah
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Putrajaya has filed an appeal against the High Court’s decision for setting aside the order of the Home Ministry to confiscate eight CDs containing the word Allah from a Sarawakian Bumiputera.
The Kuala Lumpur High Court yesterday ordered the return of the Christian CDs which the Home Ministry had confiscated from Jill Ireland at the then Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang in 2008.
Judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof, while ordering the return of the CDs to the Melanau clerk, did not set a time frame for it to be complied.
However, she did not make any ruling on the constitutional issue on whether Christians had the right to use the word “Allah” in their worship.
Ireland's lawyer Annou Xavier (pic) had said that they would decide on the next course of action after the CDs were returned.
On May 11, 2008, officials seized eight Christian CDs from Ireland at the LCCT, prompting the Melanau Christian to challenge the seizure in court.
The CDs, which Ireland had bought in Indonesia for personal use, bore titles such as "Cara Hidup Dalam Kerajaan Allah", "Hidup Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah" and "Ibadah Yang Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah".
In August 2008, Ireland filed a judicial review of the ministry's action and a return of the CDs.
She also asked for a declaration, saying that she had the right to use "Allah" and to continue to own and import such materials.
On May 4, 2009, the High Court granted Ireland leave for judicial review and the case was fixed before a judge on February 5.
Ireland's legal team argued that this case was not about Christianity against Islam, but about her constitutional right as a native Bumiputera Christian.
Putrajaya had submitted that the minister had exercised his power under the Printing Act, which gave him power to withhold the material if it was likely to be prejudicial to public order.
"The home minister was satisfied that the use of the word 'Allah' in the CDs may cause harm to public order as well as cause religious sensitivity among Christians and Muslims in Malaysia.
"In Islam, Allah is based on the concept of Oneness but this is not the same in Christianity which follows the concept of Trinity," senior federal counsel Munahyza Mustafa said at the last hearing date.
This decision comes after the Federal Court had last month dismissed the application for leave by the Catholic Church to appeal against the ban on its weekly publication, Herald, from using the word “Allah”. – July 22, 2014.
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