The High Court in Kuala Lumpur today fixed Aug 13 to hear the Group of 25's G25) challenge of the Home Ministry's ban on their book entitled Breaking the Silence: Voices of Moderation - Islam in a Constitutional Democracy.
The book has former prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi writing the foreward and a copy was given to Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak when the book was published in December 2015.
The date was fixed when the case came up for case management before High Court deputy registrar Norazlin Othman and the full merits of the challenge would be heard before Justice Kamaludin Mohd Said.
The G25, which advocates moderation in government policy implementation comprises former senior civil servants with Latifah Osman Merican, former Treasury secretary-general Mohd Sheriff Mohd Kassim, Noor Farida Mohd Ariffin, Dr Asma Abdullah and Zainuddeen Abdul Bahari as office-bearers.
They had named Deputy Prime Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi who is also Home Minister as the respondent in the case.
The book was ordered banned by Ahmad Zahid on June 14 last year on the grounds it was prejudicial to public order and interests and created an alarm to public opinion. The order was gazetted on July 27, 2017.
G25 filed a judicial review application last October for a court order (certiorari) to quash the book ban which was made under Section 7 of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
On Jan 9, the High Court granted leave for the G25 challenge to be heard on its full substantive.
Sheriff (above), who affirmed an affidavit in support of the application, said the movement decided to publish the book to create greater awareness that national interests must be upheld and to push for a society with peace and progress.
He said it was also to promote discussion and dialogue on the moderate practice of Islam and to address the politicisation of religion in Malaysia.
“It comprises writings by 22 leading academicians including myself and Asma,” he said, adding that the book received excellent reviews before it was banned. -Mkini
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