The Catholic Church today failed to block several Muslim groups from interfering in their challenge to lift the government ban on Christians using the word “Allah” to refer to God. The High Court allowed 10 state Islamic councils to intervene in the church’s suit against the Home Minister on the basis that their legal rights as advisers to the rulers, who sit as heads of Islam in their respective states, would be gravely affected by any decision taken by the court.
Judge Lau Bee Lan, from the appellate and special division of the High Court, also allowed the Malaysian Chinese-Muslim Association (Macma) to take part.
The 70,000-strong association, headed by Datuk Mustapha Ma, had previously argued that it was also an interested party because allowing Christians to use the word “Allah” to refer to any God but the Muslim one, would confuse its members.
The Hight Court, however, barred the Malaysian Gurdwara Council from taking part, noting that the case at hand dealt specifically with the church’s demands for the government to allow them to freely publish the word in their newspaper The Herald.
Judge Lau, who made the decision in chambers, reportedly said the Gurdwara Council had failed to fulfill the necessary criteria to intervene as it had not showed Sikhs would be affected by the court’s decision.
Lawyer Balwant Singh Sidhu who represents the Gurdwara Council admitted the government had not placed any conditions on Sikhs to use the word “Allah” in their worship, unlike the case with the Catholic Church.
But Balwant said the Sikh body may yet file a separate suit against the government to defend their rights.
Judge Lau set Aug 25 afternoon to hear the preliminary objections from the state Islamic councils.
Lawyer for the Terengganu and Perak Islamic Councils, Abdul Rahim Sinwan, told The Malaysian Insider that the use of the word “Allah” is a “non-justiciable” issue, meaning the court has no power to hear the case.
“For example, if tomorrow is Ramadan and someone wants to challenge that and take it to court, the court cannot hear it, because it has no powers to do so,” he explained, by way of example.
But counsel for the church, S. Selvarajah, said the church would refer to the Court of Appeal in Putrajaya to appeal against the High Court decision.
“We have 30 days to file the appeal,” he said.
The church filed for a judicial review against the Home Minister in early February after receiving several letters warning it against publishing the word “Allah” outside the Muslim context in its multi-lingual newspaper, The Herald.
The Home Minister threatened to shut down The Herald by taking back their annual publishing licence if the weekly insisted on using the word “Allah”.
Its disappointed editor-priest Reverend Father Lawrence Andrew maintains that the judge’s decision today is a “challenge.”
“The judicial process in this country is complicated. It’s not straightforward,” he told The Malaysian Insider, but refused to admit defeat at this point.
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SIC: TMH