The result has been predicted from the beginning. The question is whether all of these processes were worth trying or not. (Lily)
1.Union of Asian Catholic News(http://www.ucanews.com)
Malaysia Church loses long battle to use 'Allah' in Catholic newspaper, 21 January 2015
Lawyers say door is still open to raise the issue via other cases as Wednesday's ruling applies only to the 'Herald'
by V. Anbalagan and Jennifer Gomez for The Malaysian Insider
•The Catholic Church's long battle to use the word “Allah” in the newsweekly Herald came to an end Wednesday after the dismissal of its review application.
•A five-man bench led by Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong unanimously upheld that here had been no procedural unfairness in the Federal Court's earlier decision not to grant leave. He added that the threshold for the review had not been met.
•A seven-member panel of federal court judges on June 23, 2014, dismissed the church's application for leave to appeal the Court of Appeal's decision to ban the Herald from using the Arabic word for "God" in its Bahasa language content.
•Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria was among the four on the panel who dismissed the church's application, in a 4-3 "skin of our teeth" judgment, as the church's lawyers have called it, that saw three other judges dissenting.
•With no more legal avenues to pursue for the right to use the word "Allah" in the Herald, the publication’s editor Rev Father Lawrence Andrew expressed disappointment on Wednesday that the Federal Court's dismissal of the appeal would further undermine the rights of minorities.
•Rev Andrew said it was an important constitutional case on the right to profess one's faith and said he hoped that the rights of minorities, including the poor and the underprivileged, would not be trampled upon.
•When asked about the opposing argument by the lawyer of a Muslim religious group today that allowing the review would "open up old wounds and cause public unrest", Rev Andrew said, he did not understand how trouble could arise as "Allah" had been used for so long by Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians.
•"Malay has been the language in the church in Malaya for centuries and I have shown evidence [that Bahasa Malaysia] was already a language of worship for hundreds of years in devotional booklets,” he said. "And during this period, there was no trouble whatsoever, so I don't see an possibility of evoking trouble.”
•The word “Allah” is widely used by the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak and the church has argued that the ban of its use in the Herald is a violation of freedom of religion and expression.
•Despite appearing to be at the end of the road, the church's lead counsel Cyrus Das said the issue was not necessarily over.
•It could be raised through other cases, Das said, adding that the matter of constitutional rights of minorities could still be taken up.
•The merits of the church's case in the dispute over using "Allah" needed to be raised in the courts in other cases on the same topic, especially on the home minister's powers to ban words and the scope of prohibitions.
•"There are other constitutional issue[s] that have not been addressed, and this can be taken up in other cases," said Das outside the courtroom.
•Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) politician Gan Peng Sieu, who is also a lawyer and was holding a watching brief on the case for the party, described the Federal Court's decision today as a great injustice.
•He said it was unfortunate that the status quo on the “Allah” issue remained following the dismissal.
•"The Federal Court is skirting away from answering constitutional issues which are left hanging.”
•"The people were expecting the Federal Court to do more as this is beyond politics, the duty of the Federal Court is to preserve and defend the Federal Constitution and the current state of the 'Allah' issue will not do any good for the country," said Gan, whose MCA party is a component member of the ruling Barisan Nasional government.
•Gan also said that laymen and religious groups would infer that the matter had ended with today's decision, when that was not the case.
•Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, president of the Muslim Lawyers Association, appeared to agree, saying that the decision was only confined to the Herald.
•It simply meant that the church could not use the word "Allah" in the publication.
•"Muslims are unhappy because the word ‘Allah’ was used to refer to a non-Muslim God.
•"But is not a blanket ruling that non-Muslims cannot use the word," he added.
•Malaysia’s federal constitution enshrines Islam as the religion of the federation while giving adherents of other faiths the freedom to practice their religions as long as it does not involve proselytization of Muslims.
•Key among the issues is the constitutionality of state enactments that prohibit the use of between 18 and 25 Arabic words, one of which is "Allah". Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution gives the states, including the Federal Territories, power to enact such restrictions. Ten states in Malaysia have since 1988 passed the enactments.
•Malaysia's battle over the use of the word "Allah" has attracted international attention, as well as ridicule, including from Islamic scholars abroad who hold that "Allah" is a generic name for God and is open to use by both Muslims and non-Muslims, as use of the word predates Islam.
•Original stories: All is not lost, ‘Allah’ decision confined to Herald only, lawyers say and End of the road for Catholic Church as court dismisses ‘Allah’ review
(Source: The Malaysian Insider)
2.Malay Mail Online(http://www.themalaymailonline.com)
After final ‘Allah’ defeat, Herald editor says will keep publishing in Malay,21 January 2015
by Ida Lim & Shaun Tan
PUTRAJAYA, Jan 21 ― Out of legal options to pursue the right to print the word “Allah” in the Catholic Church’s weekly Herald, the paper’s editor Father Lawrence Andrew said today that he will still publish in Malay.
Lawrence, who has been part of the legal dispute for five years, said that the Catholic Church has a sizeable number of Malay-speaking members, which the Christian community said have been using the Arabic word for God over centuries.
“Definitely we have a sizeable number of Bumiputera Christians in Sabah, Sarawak, in Semenanjung, we have Peranakan Nyonya Baba, we have Orang Asli, all of them need means of communication.
“You can’t tell me not to use Bahasa. No one can say that, it’s against the law of the country, against the crux of our nation, against the way of muhibbah, so we will continue to publish Herald in Malay,” he told reporters here in an immediate reaction today.
He did not specify, however, if the Malay section of the paper will use the word “Allah”.
Earlier this afternoon, the Federal Court again rejected the Catholic Church’s bid for the apex court to hear its appeal on its constitutional right to use “Allah”, marking an end to remaining legal avenues in the case.
The decision was made unanimously by the five-judge panel that was hearing the application today.
The legal dispute has been in the courts for the last five years after the Home Ministry banned the publication of the word “Allah” in the Catholic Church’s weekly paper Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section in 2007.
In the long trek to today’s review hearing, the Catholic Church first tasted victory when it won its case in a landmark High Court ruling in 2009.
But when the matter was later brought before the Court of Appeal, the ruling was overturned.
The church then filed for leave to appeal the appellate court’s decision, but this was rejected in a narrow 4-3 decision at the Federal Court on June 23 last year.
The Catholic Church’s lawyers applied last September for a rare review of the Federal Court’s refusal to hear its appeal, arguing that there was “procedural unfairness” and that it had decided on legal issues not raised by any of the parties involved in the case.
The Catholic Church also argued that its case was an important constitutional issue, especially on the rights of minorities in Malaysia but claimed the Federal Court had failed to answer key constitutional questions including Article 3 and Article 11.
There was light police presence outside the Federal Court today and a small part of the entrance was cordoned off, but no protesters were spotted.
The courtroom was packed today, with 17 lawyers holding watching briefs for over 16 bodies including Christian organisations, the Catholic Lawyers Association, the Bar Council and Commonwealth Lawyers Association.
Representatives from the US Embassy were also present to observe the case, which was also attended by the Catholic Church’s former leaders of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, namely Archbishop Emeritus Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam and Archbishop Emeritus Anthony Soter Fernandez.
The Herald case is crucial as it may have bearings on other cases involving the word “Allah” ― which some Muslims claim is exclusive to Islam, while Malay-speaking Bumiputera Christians have said they have been using it in their worship for generations.
Tomorrow, the Kuala Lumpur High Court will also hear the government’s bid to postpone the court order for the Home Ministry to return eight private “Allah” compact discs (CD) to Sarawakian Christian Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill, until the end of its appeal.
The High Court is also set to hear a case involving another case of seizure of Christian materials containing the words “Allah” from the Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church, but no date has been fixed yet.
3.Malaysian Insider(http://www.themalaysianinsider.com)
(1)All is not lost, ‘Allah’ decision confined to Herald only, lawyers say , 21 January 2015
by V. Anbalagan & Jennifer Gomez
With no more legal avenues to pursue for the right to use the word "Allah" in Catholic weekly, Herald, its editor Rev Father Lawrence Andrew today expressed disappointment at the Federal Court's dismissal of the appeal, while lawyers, however, said it did not mean the issue of non-Muslims' right to use the word was settled.
Rev Andrew said it was an important constitutional case on the right to profess one's faith and said he hoped that the rights of minorities, including the poor and the underprivileged, would not be trampled upon.
The Catholic Church today lost its final bid to review the Federal Court's earlier decision upholding the Court of Appeal's ruling to ban the Herald from using the Arabic word for "God" in its Bahasa Malaysia content.
When asked about the opposing argument by the lawyer of a Muslim religious group today that allowing the review would "open up old wounds and cause public unrest", Rev Andrew said, he did not understand how trouble could arise as "Allah" had been used for so long by Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Christians.
"Malay has been the language in the church in Malaya for centuries and I have shown evidence than BM was already a language of worship for hundreds of years in devotional booklets.
"And during this period, there was no trouble whatsoever, so I don't see an possibility of evoking trouble," the priest said.
Despite appearing to be at the end of the road, the church's lead counsel Datuk Dr Cyrus Das said the issue was not necessarily over.
It could be raised through other cases, Das said, adding that matter of constitutional rights of minorities could still be taken up.
The merits of the church's case in the dispute over using "Allah" needed to be raised in the courts in other cases on the same topic, especially on the home minister's powers to ban words and the scope of prohibitions.
"There are other constitutional issue that have not been addressed, and this can be taken up in other cases," said Das outside the courtroom at Putrajaya's Palace of Justice.
MCA politician Gan Peng Sieu, who is also a lawyer and was holding a watching brief on the case for the party, described the Federal Court's decision today as a great injustice.
He said it was unfortunate that the status quo on the “Allah” issue remained following the dismissal.
"The Federal Court is skirting away from answering constitutional issues which are left hanging.
"The people were expecting the Federal Court to do more as this is beyond politics, the duty of the Federal Court is to preserve and defend the Federal Constitution and the current state of the 'Allah' issue will not do any good for the country," said Gan, whose party, MCA, is a component member of the ruling Barisan Nasional government.
Gan also said that laymen and religious groups would infer that the matter had ended with today's decision, when that was not the case.
Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, president of the Muslim Lawyers Association appeared to agree, saying that the decision was only confined to the Herald.
It simply meant that the church could not use the word "Allah" in the publication.
"Muslims are unhappy because the word ‘Allah’ was used to refer to a non-Muslim God.
"But is not a blanket ruling that non-Muslims cannot use the word," he added.
The church had submitted 28 questions of law at the leave stage on administrative and constitutional law, as well as questions of general principles.
That, however, was rejected by a Federal Court panel chaired by Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria in June last year in a 4-3 majority ruling.
Today, the five-man bench headed by Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong took an hour to return a unanimous verdict in the negative to the church's final attempt to revive its appeal.
The panel today held that procedural unfairness did not arise in the earlier bench led by the country's top judge and that the church did not meet the threshold for review under Rule 137 of the Rules of the Federal Court. – January 21, 2015.
(2)Archbishop worries Herald decision leads to curbs on minority rights, 22 January 2015
by Jennifer Gomez
The Catholic church is concerned that yesterday's Federal Court decision on the Allah issue could open a Pandora's box in curbing the rights of minorities to manage their religious affairs.
Newly ordained Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Most Reverend Julian Leow said while he was disappointed with the ruling of the Federal Court, the decision was not totally unexpected.
"I would like to believe this adverse decision is confined only to the Herald and will not open a Pandora's box on curbing the rights of minorities in managing our own religious affairs.
"In God we continue to pray and trust that there is light at the end of this tunnel," he told The Malaysian Insider in a text message.
A five-man panel headed by Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong delivered a unanimous decision yesterday to deny the Catholic church's application for a review of the apex court's earlier ruling which did not grant it leave to appeal the ban on the use of the word "Allah" in Catholic weekly, Herald.
Church lawyer Datuk Dr Cyrus Das, however, had said that the Allah case was not quite over.
Instead, he was hopeful the issues central to the case, on freedom of religion, could be revisited through other similar cases in the future.
Das said yesterday that the merits of the church's case over the Allah issue needed to be raised in other cases, especially on the home minister's power to ban words.
"There are other constitutional issues that have not been addressed and this can be taken up in other cases, " Das had said.
(3)Herald editor, Rev Father Lawrence Andrew, acknowledging that the door is closed for this particular case, expressed hope that there would be an opening later to ventilate the issues relating to freedom to practise's one faith as well as minority rights.
"This was an important constitutional case on the right to profess one's faith and to live in peace in harmony.
"Now we hope to be able to work towards being able to live in peace and harmony and at the same time we pray that that the rights of the minorities will not be trampled upon.
"We also pray and hope there will be an opening later," he added.
Today, a similar case involving Sarawakian Christian, Jill Ireland, who had her eight CDs containing the word "Allah" confiscated by the home ministry, will be heard at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
The government is applying for a stay of a High Court order in July which ordered for the CDs to be returned to her.
In 2008, ministry officials confiscated the CDs from Ireland at the then Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang, prompting the Melanau Christian to challenge the seizure in court.
The CDs, which Ireland had bought in Indonesia for personal use, bore titles such as "Cara Hidup Dalam Kerajaan Allah", "Hidup Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah" and "Ibadah Yang Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah".
She also asked the court for a declaration that she had a legitimate expectation to exercise the right to use "Allah" and to continue to own and import such materials.
Ireland's legal team had argued that the case was not about Christianity against Islam, but about her constitutional right as a Bumiputera Christian.
In her ruling, however, High Court judge Datuk Zaleha Yusof who had ordered the confiscated CDs to be returned, did not address Ireland's constitutional right to use the word "Allah".
As such, Ireland is also appealing against the High Court decision which failed to address the issue, to be heard at the Court of Appeal next month. – January 22, 2015.
4.Free Malaysia Today(http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com)
(1)Baru: Federal Court unfair, flawed on Allah case, 22 January 2015
by Joe Fernandez
“It would be naïve to expect a junior panel of judges to allow such an application to review the decision of a larger panel headed by the Chief Justice himself.”
KUCHING: Senior Sarawak lawyer in private practice, Baru Bian, considers the adverse Federal Court decision on a revision bid by the Catholic weekly Herald as not only unfair but flawed.
Baru was commenting on the Federal Court of Malaysia turning down a bid by the Catholic Church to get the Court to revise its earlier ruling where it saw no reason to interfere with the decision of the Court of Appeal ruling.
The five-member panel, headed by Judge Abdullah Hamid Embong ruled that the required threshold for a review had not been met.
After consulting his fellow Judges who agreed unanimously, Judge Abdullah Hamid said that there had been no procedural unfairness as claimed by the appellants. The other judges on the panel were Ahmad Haji Maarop, Hasan Lah, Ramly Haji Ali and Azahar Mohamed.
“It would be naïve to expect a junior panel of judges to allow such an application to review the decision of a larger panel headed by the Chief Justice himself,” said Baru who is also Pakatan Rakyat Sarawak (PR) Chief and Ba’Kelalan Assemblyman. “By convention, a larger panel or the same number in the panel as the previous one should hear the application for revision.”
“This does not help to shift the perception of an already cynical public that the decision in the Allah case is not a fair decision.”
This is a case of enormous public interest (and international attention), pointed out Baru, “and the Federal Court should have taken the opportunity to hear the appeal and to hand down a decision supported by cogent, incisive and judicious reasoning”.
Rule 137 of the Courts of Judicature Act held, the Judge pointed out, that four conditions should be met for a revision of an earlier ruling by the Court viz. an element of bias, coram failure, fraud and also procedural unfairness in the decision made by the previous bench. The rationale behind the conservative ruling, established a century ago in England, the Judge said, was to prevent cases from “continuing to come up” for review.
The Federal Court on Tuesday dismissed an Application by the Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church for an enlarged bench of seven to nine judges to hear its Application for Revision of a Court decision last year which had the effect of disallowing the Herald to use the term Allah in Malay print to refer to the Christian faith.
The Application was dismissed on the grounds that the Church’s complaint is on the majority decision made by the Court. “Hence, this panel of five judges is equipped to hear this application,” said Federal Court judge Abdul Hamid Embong. “This panel cannot go against the Chief Justice who is empowered to form the panel to hear a case.”
Lead counsel Cyrus Das, who headed the Church’s legal team, in arguing for a larger panel referred to public perception. “Any review should be done by a larger panel,” he said in pointing out that the previous panel comprised seven judges.
The Federal Court said the Court cannot get into theology
The Herald case has been in Court for five years following a directive by then Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar in 2007 that the Herald cannot, on security grounds, use the term Allah to refer to the Christian faith in its Malay print. Syed Hamid was then facing a battle for the Umno vice presidency.
The Herald won its judicial review application at the High Court when it considered the merits of the Church’s application and ruled the Home Minister’s directive was unconstitutional.
The Court of Appeal, considering an Appeal by the Attorney General, only considered the procedural aspects of the Home Minister’s directive and set aside the High Court Ruling. The Home Minister had followed procedures, the COA said.
On June 23 last year, the Federal Court found no reason to interfere with the COA’s ruling and added that the Court cannot get into theology. The Federal Court, like the COA, and unlike the High Court, did not consider the merits of the Church’s Application.
(2)Don’t limit Allah’s authority, says NY imam, 22 January 2015
by FMT Reporters
'It is not my right to stop someone from calling God 'Allah', says Indonesian-American imam.
KUALA LUMPUR: An Indonesian-American imam says prohibiting non-Muslims from using “Allah” as a reference to God is tantamount to limiting the His authority over all of mandkind.
Shamsi Ali, chairman of the Al-Hikmah mosque in Astoria, New York, said it was wrong and unacceptable that “Allah” should only be used by Muslims.
“Allah is God, and God is Allah. It is not my right to stop someone from calling God ‘Allah’,” the Malaysian Insider quoted Shamsi as saying after he took part in a forum at the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia campus in Kuala Lumpur.
Imam Ali is a well-known community leader and activist in New York. Through his efforts to educate the larger American community about Islam, he seeks to promote and foster understanding, empathy and compassion necessary for bridging and strengthening community ties.
“Who gives the right that only Muslims can use that word?” he asked.
Shamsi said no one should politicise the issue.
“The Quran does not deny other religions; in fact, it acknowledges them,” he said.
(End)
