Nod for Christians to use word ‘Allah’

KUALA LUMPUR: After more than a decade, the High Court has ruled that Christians in the country are allowed to use the word “Allah” and three other words of Arabic origin in their religious publication for educational purposes.

This follows a decision by Justice Nor Bee Ariffin, now a Court of Appeal judge, who allowed a judicial review by a Christian woman, Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, to practise her constitutional rights of practising her religion.

The other three words in question are Baitullah, Kaabah and solat.The legal action by Jill Ireland had taken root some 13 years ago in 2008 when eight CDs she had brought in from Indonesia were confiscated by Customs officers at an airport in Sepang as they contained the word “Allah”.

The titles of the CDs were Cara Menggunakan Kunci Kerajaan Allah, Cara Hidup Dalam Kerajaan Allah, Ibadah Yang Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah, Metode Pemuridan Kerajaan Allah, Pribadi Yang Bertumbuh Dalam Kerajaan Allah, Hidup Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah, Pemerintahan Kerajaan Allah Dalam Hidup Kita and Rahasia Kerajaan Allah. Jill Ireland then filed for a judicial review to challenge the seizure of the CDs as well as seeking declarations from the court that her constitutional rights were violated, among others.

In 2014, the High Court ordered the Home Ministry to return the CDs to her but did not address the constitutional points as it was bound by a Federal Court ruling.

The order to return the CDs to Jill Ireland was upheld by the Court of Appeal the following year but she proceeded with her challenge on the Home Ministry’s directive that resulted in the forfeiture.

In her decision, Justice Nor Bee said the directive that banned the use of the four words by non-Muslims was “illegal” and “unconstitutional”.

“The Home Minister had unlawfully issued the impugned directive, which has been found to be a nullity and had unlawfully exercised his power to enforce the impugned directive.

“The minister, in my view, has no power to deprive a person of his right to profess or practice his religion which is guaranteed under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution and therefore, the act of the minister to impose a prohibition to import the said CDs under grounds of the impugned directive would be inconsistent with the provision of Article 11 of the Constitution, ” she said here yesterday.

The judge, who took more than an hour to read her decision, said there was no dispute that Jill Ireland’s CDs were for her religious edification.

“The freedom to profess and practice one’s religion should include the right to own religious materials, ” she added.

Justice Nor Bee also said it was not disputed nor rebutted that Bahasa Malaysia has been the lingua franca for the native people of Sabah and Sarawak living in their home states and Peninsular Malaysia.She added that the Christian community in Sabah and Sarawak had been using the word “Allah” in Bahasa Malaysia to mean “God” for generations in their religious practice of Christianity for over 400 years since the 1600s and this could not be ignored.

“There was an absence of public disorder in all these years, ” Justice Nor Bee said.

She also touched on the 10-point solution adopted by Putrajaya in 2011, a Cabinet policy to resolve the issue of Malay bibles containing the word “Allah” and remarked that if it was enforced, the matter brought by Jill Ireland could have been resolved without having its day in court.

The court then allowed three reliefs sought by Jill Ireland which included a declaration of her rights based on Articles 3,8, 11 and 12 of the Federal Constitution to import publications in exercising her rights to practice her religion and education. It did not make any order as to costs.

Jill Ireland was represented by lawyers Lim Heng Seng and Annou Xavier while Senior Federal Counsel Shamsul Bolhassan appeared for the Home Ministry and the government.