Catholic Church loses final bid on 'Allah' word

PUTRAJAYA: The Catholic Church today lost its final legal battle over the use of the word "Allah" in its weekly publication, Herald, after the Federal Court dismissed its application for a review of the decision on the use of the word "Allah".
Federal Court judge Tan Sri Abdull Hamid Embong, who leads a five-man panel, said in court that the panel had concluded that there was no procedural unfairness in the Federal Court in coming to decision regarding this case.
"As such, the threshold for review is not met. Therefore, the review application is unanimously dismissed," Abdull Hamid told a packed courtroom here today.
He added that the application is dismissed with no cost.
The others on the panel were judges Tan Sri Ahmad Maarop, Tan Sri Hasan Lah, Datuk Ramly Ali and Datuk Azahar Mohamed.
It was reported that on Sept 19, last year, the Catholic Church had filed a review application against the June 23 majority judgment of the seven-member Federal Court, which dismissed the church's application for leave to proceed in its appeal to the Federal Court.
The church had applied for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal's decision delivered on Oct 14, 2013, which allowed the government's appeal to overturn the 2009 High Court's decision that Herald could use the word "Allah".
On Dec 31, 2009, the High Court declared that the decision by the Home Ministry in banning the Herald from using the word Allah was illegal, null and void.
The Catholic Church, which was then led by Kuala Lumpur Archdiocese Archbishop Emeritus Murphy Pakiam, had filed a judicial review application in 2009 naming the Home Ministry and the government as respondents, seeking, among others, a declaration that the ministry's decision to prohibit the use of the word "Allah" in the Herald was illegal.
Earlier, Abdull Hamid also dismissed an application by the church's lead counsel Datuk Dr Cyrus Das to expand the five-man panel, stating that this was under the legal power of the Chief Justice.
Security at Palace of Justice was tightened today and the entrance was sealed with a police barrier, and there were more policemen patrolling the courthouse than usual.
Outside court, Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew lamented that the church's final bid to challenge the court's decision had failed.
However, he stressed that the peace and harmony of the country has to be upheld at all times.
When asked if the Bahasa Malaysia version of Herald will continue, Lawrence said that printing will continue as there is a sizeable number of Christian bumiputras in peninsular and East Malaysia.
"We have Christian bumiputras, and all of them need a means of communication, and we will continue with the Bahasa Malaysia publication," he said.
"You cannot tell me not to use Bahasa Malaysia – as it is against the laws of our country, crux of our nation and the way of muhibbah," he told reporters here.
Malaysia Muslim Lawyers Association president Datuk Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, who was also present, said that with the decision, the Catholic Church needs to abide by the decision of the Court of Appeal.
However, he pointed out that it was not a blanket ban but only for the Herald publication.