Putrajaya had previously appealed against a High Court ruling ordering the return of eight CDs containing the word ‘Allah’. – The Malaysian Insider file pic, March 5, 2015.
The Court of Appeal today dismissed an application by the Federal Territories Islamic Religious Council to be made a party in Putrajaya's appeal against a High Court ruling ordering the return of eight CDs containing the word "Allah".
A three-man bench chaired by Datuk Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat said the council had used the wrong rules in the Rules of Court 2012 to intervene.
"It should have gone by Order 53 for judicial review and not relied on Order 15 which is used for civil cases," she said in the unanimous ruling.
However, she said the council could hold a watching brief.
"The council can make submissions upon invitation by the court," she said.
Earlier, lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla submitted that the council wanted to be made party in the appeal as it had to advise the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, who is the head of Islam in the federal territories.
"The council can advise the Agong that it would affect the welfare of Muslims if non-Muslims are allowed to use the word 'Allah'," he said.
However, counsel Lim Heng Seng, appearing for Jill Ireland, told the court there were sufficient laws to check non-Muslims from propagating their religions and doctrines to Muslims.
"In any event, the council can go to Parliament to amend laws. The court is not the right forum to express its concern," he added.
Lim said it was also too remote for the council to interfere in a matter brought by his client, a Sarawakian, against the Home Ministry.
Ireland in her affidavit filed on Monday to block the council's attempt to be made party in the case, said the religious authority could not interfere in the private affairs of non-Muslims, on how they prayed and studied their religions.
She said the subject of dispute was about the right to religious education and the right to profess one’s religion, including the use of study materials like CDs, which had nothing to do with the council.
She said the council's reference to the Islamic Law Administration Act (Federal Territories) had nothing to do with her right as a Christian to profess and practise her religion.
"The act is only applicable to Muslims in the Federal Territories and my residence in Kuala Lumpur is irrelevant to show it had a right to intervene," Ireland said in her affidavit.
She said the council, if allowed to intervene, would only raise irrelevant issues and give the impression that there was a conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims, which was not the case.
The council, in its application seeking to intervene, said it has the right to regulate how non-Muslims pray and the materials they use, including audio and texts.
It also said the Agong and/or Sultan, as head of Islam for the relevant state, has the right to regulate all matters relating to Islam including the use of the word “Allah”.
The council said some of the relief sought by Ireland, including the right to use, import, export, distribute any Christian material with the word “Allah” for her own edification in professing her religion was guaranteed by the constitution and as such, the council had the right to regulate or prohibit such materials.
Other reasons cited by the council in its application included that Ireland’s act of using materials with the word “Allah” would cause confusion leading to unrest and public disorder, and that her use of these materials would contravene Section 298A of the Penal Code and police must be empowered to investigate and seize such material which could pose a threat to security, and arrest the person in possession of those items.
The council also said it has the right to refer such matters to the Shariah courts if any non-Muslim is in possession of materials with the words like “Allah”, “kaabah” and “solat”.
The High Court last July ordered the return of the CDs to Ireland, a Melanau clerk, who had brought them in from Indonesia, but Putrajaya obtained a stay to retain them on grounds of public interest.
In 2008, Home Ministry officials confiscated the CDs from Ireland at the then Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang after she had disembarked from a flight.
The CDs, which Ireland bought for personal use, had titles such as "Cara Hidup Dalam Kerajaan Allah", "Hidup Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah" and "Ibadah Yang Benar Dalam Kerajaan Allah".
She also asked 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 argued that the case was not about Christianity against Islam, but about her constitutional right as a Bumiputera Christian.
Putrajaya submitted that the minister had exercised his power under the Printing Presses and Publications Act to withhold the material if it was likely to be prejudicial to public order.
Meanwhile, Ireland also filed an appeal against the High Court decision which failed to address her constitutional right to use the word "Allah", as the court had only ordered the CDs to be returned to her.
The appeal will be heard on April 23.
Her lawyer Annou Xavier said the constitutional issues that would be raised were the position of Islam as the religion of the federation, the supremacy of the Federal Constitution, the right to profess and practise one's religion subject to limitations imposed, and right to religious education.
Constitutional lawyers said Ireland's cross-appeal could be used to revisit unresolved issues that could not be argued in the case involving Catholic weekly, Herald.
That case came to an end on January 21, after the Federal Court dismissed a review application by the Catholic Church to use the word "Allah" in the weekly.
The word “Allah” is widely used by Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, and the church argued that the ban on its use was a violation of freedom of religion.
- TMI
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