Former deputy home minister Noh Omar has expressed support for the Selangor Islamic Affairs Council's (Mais) demand that Putrajaya continues its appeal against a High Court decision that favoured Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill.
In a statement today, he argued that the courts should be the proper forum to decide on the restrictions on the use of the term "Allah", "Baitullah", "Kaabah" and "Solat".
"If the court rules against the government, then Putrajaya can amend existing laws and make new laws to restrict the usage of those words.
"Even if the laws can only be applied in the Federal Territories, they can serve as a guide for other states to follow," he said.
Noh (above), a former Tanjung Karang MP and Selangor Umno leader who was expelled from the party in January, said when he was deputy home minister in 2005, he issued orders to block a container containing Bibles from Indonesia that contained the word "Allah" that had arrived in Port Klang.
This incident had nothing to do with Jill Ireland's case as her materials were seized in 2008 at KLIA.
"I felt that the (materials in the container) were part of a plan by certain groups to import materials as a form of proselytisation by a certain religious group, which can confuse the faith of Muslims.
"At the time, BN was a strong government with 198 MPs - more than two-thirds - and no one questioned it," he said.
Putrajaya had withdrawn its appeal against the High Court ruling which favoured Jill Ireland's judicial review against the government's decision to seize her materials which contained the word "Allah".
Jill Ireland, a Sarawak native and non-Muslim, had in 2021 secured a ruling she had a right to import those materials.
Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution had argued that his ministry had decided to withdraw the appeal after thoroughly studying the judgment.
He said that ruling had relied on defective administrative instructions issued in 1986 and not because non-Muslims had legal a right to use the term "Allah".
In view of this, the appeal was withdrawn and new administrative instructions will be issued in the future to prevent the matter from recurring. - Mkini
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