KUALA LUMPUR: ZI Publications Sdn Bhd has succeeded in removing the ban order on Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta, the translated version of Canadian writer Irshad Manji's controversial book.
ZI Publications's co-counsel Nizam Bashir said the translated book could now be circulated freely in Malaysia due to the court ruling.
High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) judge Justice Zaleha Yusof Thursday allowed an application by the publisher for a judicial review.
Justice Zaleha ruled that ZI Publications has a legal right to bring action against the Deputy Home Minister, Home Minister and Government as it has been adversely affected by the ban order.
"If it is true that the book is prejudicial to public order, why was no action taken to ban its English version when it was first circulated?
"Why was the prohibition (order) made only when it was translated into the national language?" she read out her judgment.
ZI Publications is the publisher of the 388-page Allah, Kebebasan dan Cinta: Keberanian untuk menyelaraskan kebebasan dengan iman, the translated Malay version of the original book Allah, Liberty and Love: The Courage to Reconcile Faith and Freedom by Canadian writer Irshad Manji which was published by The Random House of Canada.
"As I understand it, the root of the respondents' concern (over the book) is 'kecelaruan keagamaan' or religious confusion.
"As the authority only decided to ban the book when it was translated into the national language, does it mean that only Malay-speaking readers would be confused while the English-speaking readers would not, when reading the book in the first place?
"I cannot help but ponder on this because the steps taken to ban the book only came about when the book was translated into the national language," she said.
She said it must again be emphasised that the book had been in circulation for about two weeks before it was banned, while its original version in English had been circulated in the local market since June 2011.
She held that the court had the jurisdiction to hear and decide the matter, adding that the ban order by the minister can be questioned.
"Every legal power must have limits otherwise we will have dictatorship," she said.
Speaking to reporters here, ZI Publications director Mohd Ezra Mohd Zaid said he was very happy with the court's decision and did not expect such a ruling.
Senior federal counsel Noor Hisham Ismail said he would seek further instructions from the Attorney-General on whether to appeal.
Earlier, ZI Publications' lead counsel Malik Imtiaz Sarwar had argued that the order was illegal as it was ultra vires Section 7 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 as the since book was not a publication contrary to morality and public order but merely a scholar's opinion pertaining to the current approach in the administration of Islam.
Noor Hisham had argued the Deputy Home Minister's order to ban the book was not made on bad faith or any improper motives which could justify the court to quash the order.
He argued that there was no evidence that ZI Publications has been authorised to translate and reproduce the book in Malaysia.
ZI Publications, among others, sought to quash the ban order, a declaration that the order was unlawful and costs.
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