End of the road for Church's 'Allah' appeal

The seven-member panel of the Federal Court refused to grant leave to hear the appeal by the archbishop of the Catholic Church in the "Allah" case.

This follows the majority decision of four judges, led by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, in not allowing leave.

The judges with Justice Arifin are Court of Appeal President Md Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin and Federal Court judge Suriyadi Halim Omar.

In his judgement, Justice Ariffin held the opinion that the Court of Appeal had already conducted an objective test on the matter at hand as such, the Federal Court should not disturb the findings of the Appellate Court.

Highlights of judgement

• Court of Appeal had applied objective test in arriving at its decision.
• Not open for Federal Court to interfere with the findings.
• Fundamental liberty and religious freedom provisions in the Federal Constitution could not be considered in isolation without the various state enactments on propagation of faith to Muslims, which prohibits the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims.
• The Home Minister's decision to ban Herald from using the word Allah was never premised on theological consideration.
• Views expressed by Court of Appeal judges regarding theological issues are "mere obiter".

With today's decision, the archbishop's appeal for Catholic weekly the Herald ends and the Court of Appeal's decision is upheld.

Only three judges were for the appeal - the Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum and Federal Court Judges Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha and Zainun Ali.

Lawyer: A review may be sought

Lawyer S Selvarajah, who represented the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, said his client would seek a review of the decision if possible.

Selvarajah said a review of the Federal Court decision has happened before in certain cases but is rarely done.

"We will study the decision and see if it is possible. Until we are satisfied it cannot be done, we will pursue it," he said.

Selvarajah said the Federal Court's decision not to grant an appeal did not amount to an endorsement of other comments made in the Court of Appeal judgment, which, among others, went as far as declaring that the word "Allah" was not integral to the Christian faith.

He said it was still arguable if this judgment applied to all, including Sabah and Sarawak Christians, who are Malay-speaking and have traditionally referred to God as "Allah".

However, Selvarajah pointed out, despite the government's insistence that the judgment is limited to the Herald only, the Court of Appeal decision was used as a premise to dismiss East Malaysia-based Sidang Injil Borneo's case on using the word "Allah" in Christian educational books.

"That is one example of the decision extending beyond theHerald," he said.