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KUALA LUMPUR: The government has filed its appeal against the High Court ruling last week that Christians can use the word “Allah” in their religious education and books.
The notice of appeal was filed this morning in the High Court record here and a copy was extended to the Clerk of the Court of Appeal and Sarawakian lawyers Jill Ireland, which she had won in an attempted judicial review last Wednesday. Putrajaya had 30 days to decide on the matter.
Attorney General Abdul Razak Musa confirmed with FMT about the presentation.
On Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Nor Bee Ariffin ruled that a directive from the Interior Ministry of December 5, 1986 to prohibit the use of the words “Allah”, “Baitullah”, “Solat” and “Kaabah” by non-Muslims was illegal and unconstitutional. .
The judge said the directive was wrongly issued because it went beyond the scope of the Printing and Publications Act of 1984.
“The law is only to verify undesirable posts. It is not a general law to control public order, public health and morals, ”he said, adding that the ministry had acted in an unreasonable, illegal and irrational manner.
Nor did Bee, who is now a judge on the Court of Appeals, said that as such the directive was struck down to prevent non-Muslims from using the four words.
She said Ireland had a constitutional right to use and import any publication for her religious education and to practice her faith without discrimination.
Ireland, a Christian from Melanau, requested a judicial review in 2008, but her constitutional challenge was heard in 2017.
This sentence has been postponed 12 times for the parties to seek an out-of-court solution to the use of the term “Allah” in Sabah and Sarawak and in publication materials.
In 2008, KLIA customs officers seized eight CDs from Ireland titled “Cara Hidup Dalam Kerajaan Allah”, “Hidup Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah” and “Ibadah Yang Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah”.
Initially, he filed the action to claim the CDs, also seeking several declarative exemptions.
In 2014, the High Court ordered the Interior Ministry to return the CDs, but did not address the constitutional points, as it was bound by a Federal Court ruling.
The following year, the Court of Appeal upheld the High Court’s ruling, but ordered it to hear Ireland’s request for a statement that its constitutional right to practice its religion had been violated by the restriction or prohibition on the importation of educational material.
