The Court of Appeal wants further clarification whether the Federal Territory Islamic Council (MAIWP) is allowed to intervene in the Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) case, and whether the role of the attorney-general as guardian of public interest would be affected.
Justice Hamid Sultan Abu Backer, who led the three-member bench, wants this matter to be researched by lawyers representing SIB or the Borneo Evengelical church and MAIWP to provide written submissions on the matter.
"Please give your submission by Aug 12 and if we require further clarification, a date will be fixed and if not, we will write a decision," he said.
The other judges were Justices Zamani A Rahim and Zaharah Yusof.
Rev Jerry Dusing, the plaintiff, is appealing the decision of the High Court in Kuala Lumpur to allow MAIWP to stand as an intervener in the judicial review application.
He named the Home Ministry and government as respondents following the seizure of printed religious books containing the word Allah in 2007.
Although the items were returned years later, Dusing is continuing with the judicial review application to prevent a recurrence of such incident.
He told Malaysiakini that as the country practised freedom of religion, Christians in Sabah and Sarawak should be allowed to bring in their prayer materials, including the Holy Bible with the word Allah in it, for them to use.
Lawyer Lim Heng Seng, representing SIB, said they did not want the issue to be a religious issue if MAIWP is allowed in as they only wanted the matter to be between the ministry and federal government and not the state.
Lawyer Mohd Haniff Khatri Abdulla, representing MAIWP, told the court that his client is not a federal or state government but is a body which is incorporated.
Justice Hamid Sultan said the role of the AG in this matter must be clarified if “we allow more corporate bodies to come in”.
It was reported on Feb 23 that the High Court in Kuala Lumpur allowed MAIWP's application to intervene in the case which means it could submit in the matter and not be a mere observer.
This is the third challenge on the use of the word Allah for the Christian community.
SIB was the first to make the application to file a judicial review followed by the Roman Catholic archbishop and the Jill Ireland case.
However, the Roman Catholic archbishop's case was the first to be heard up to the Federal Court.- Mkini
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