Lawyer confirms notified of govt’s appeal against ‘Allah’ ruling, clarifies only one word used by BM-speaking Christians

KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 — A lawyer for Sarawakian native Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill today confirmed having received notice of the federal government’s appeal against the High Court’s quashing of the 1986 ban by the Home Ministry on “Allah” usage in Christian publications.

Annou Xavier, who is a lawyer for Jill Ireland of the Melanau tribe, also sought to clarify the centuries-long religious practice of Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.

Noting that the 1986 government directive prohibited the use of four words — namely “Allah”, “kaabah”, “baitullah” and “solat” — in Christian publications, Annou said the Christians in Sabah and Sarawak only use the word “Allah” to refer to God.

“The 1986 government directive bans the use of four words, but the BM-speaking Christian community in Borneo, in Sabah and Sarawak, for 400 years have only been using one word, not the other three words,” he told Malay Mail.

“All parties must respect the court’s decision and not come to some irrational conclusion that certain parties are taking advantage. That’s not true. It’s the court’s decision, we must all respect the court’s decision,” he added.

The word “Allah” is Arabic for God and had been adopted into the Malay language, and had been used for generations by Malay-speaking Christians in the country, especially those living in Sabah and Sarawak.

Yesterday, the federal government through the Attorney General’s Chambers gave notice that it was appealing the High Court’s decision, by filing a notice of appeal at the courts.

In the notice of appeal, both the Malaysian government and the Home Ministry were listed as appellants, while Jill Ireland was named as the respondent.

On March 10, the High Court in Kuala Lumpur ruled that the government directive via a December 5, 1986 circular issued by the Home Ministry’s publications control division was unlawful and unconstitutional.

Justice Datuk Nor Bee Ariffin, who was a High Court judge when she heard the case in 2017, but has since been elevated to be a Court of Appeal judge, had delivered her judgment last week while sitting as a High Court judge. The delay in the delivering of the judgment, initially scheduled for March 2018, was due to attempts at seeking out-of-court resolutions by those in the lawsuit and due to the movement control order.

The judge last week granted three specific constitutional reliefs sought by Jill Ireland, including a declaration that it is her constitutional right under the Federal Constitution’s Article 3, 8, 11 and 12 to import the publications in exercise of her rights to practise religion and right to education.

The publications mentioned by the judge were in reference to eight educational compact discs (CDs) that Jill Ireland had in 2008 brought back to Malaysia from Indonesia for her own personal use, but which the Home Ministry had seized and which had led to the Sarawakian’s court challenge to review the government’s actions.

The other two declarations granted by the judge were a declaration under Article 8 that Jill Ireland is guaranteed equality of all persons before the law and is protected from discrimination against citizens on the grounds of religion in the administration of the law ― specifically the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and Customs Act 1967), and a declaration that government directive issued by the Home Ministry’s publication control’s division via a circular dated December 5, 1986 is unlawful and unconstitutional.