High Court: Documents leading to 'Allah' ban are official secrets

KUALA LUMPUR: The High Court has dismissed an application by Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) and its Sabah president Reverend Datuk Jerry Dusing for documents leading to the Cabinet's 1986 decision to ban the use of the word "Allah" in publications to be produced in court.

High Court (Appellate and Special Powers) judge Justice Nor Bee Ariffin dismissed SIB and Dusing's application in the presence of their counsel Annou Xavier and senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, who acted for the Government.

Met by reporters after proceedings, Annou said Justice Nor Bee made the order on grounds that the documents were classified under the Official Secrets Act 1972 (OSA) and could not be released.

Annou said the court later fixed Nov 1 as the next case management date.

SIB had applied for the discovery of documents leading to the Cabinet's decision to ban the use of the word "Allah" in publications by religions other than Islam.

In their submissions on Sept 19, SIB's lead counsel Lim Heng Seng said the dispute had serious questions that could only be answered by those documents, which would in turn be essential for the court to consider in making a decision.

In their application for leave filed on Dec 10, 2007, SIB and Dusing had named the then internal security minister and the Government as respondents.

They filed the application after Customs Department authorities at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang seized their religious publications meant for children in Aug 15, 2007.

They are seeking a declaration that they have a constitutional right to use the word "Allah" to refer to God in all their Malay and indigenous language publications.