KUALA LUMPUR, 3 Aug 2009: The High Court here today allowed eight parties, including seven Islamic religious councils, to be intervenors in the new application by the Kuala Lumpur Roman Catholic Church for a judicial review in the matter of using the word “Allah” in its weekly publication.
Justice Lau Bee Lan made the decision in her chambers on grounds that all the parties involved had legal interests in the issue.
The eight are the Islamic religious councils of Perak, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor, Kedah, Johor and Melaka, and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association.
The court, however, rejected the application by the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council to intervene in the case.
Senior Federal Counsel Datuk Kamaluddin Mohd Said told reporters that the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council’s application was rejected as it did not have any legal interests in the issue compared with the others.
On 16 Feb, Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam filed a new application for a judicial review after a similar application in 2008 was deemed academic following the expiry of the Herald‘s publication permit for the period of 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2008.
In the application, Pakiam, as the publisher of Herald, named the Home Ministry and the government of Malaysia as respondents.
He is seeking, among other things, a declaration that the decision by the respondents 7 Jan 2009 prohibiting him from using the word “Allah” in Herald – The Catholic Weekly was illegal, and that the word “Allah” was not exclusive to the religion of Islam. — Bernama
zml says
What a bizarre and tragic day it is for Muslim Malaysians. Don’t they realise that to deny Christians to call God Allah means their own denial that they belong to the great historic and monotheistic faiths of Judaism and Christianity? Why have they chosen to brick themselves up like a well and pretend not to know their fellow Muslim brethren all over the world happily accept Christians and Jews to call Allah their God?! It is a day for mourning for my Muslim friends in this beautiful country that their intelligence should be so insulted like a cruel joke. Today, I cry for you Malaysia.
armstrong says
“The High Court here today allowed eight parties, including seven Islamic religious councils, to be intervenors in the new application by the Kuala Lumpur Roman Catholic Church for a judicial review”
By doing that it’s like having IGP and Patail intervening in Anwar’s sodomy case. Is it fair? Absolutely not fair. If they really want to consult an independent religious council, please go to the Middle East, or Saudi Arabia to seek their views and another Christian/Catholic council outside Malaysia. The religious councils in Malaysia are nothing except a tool by Umno to do what they want. I wonder if they know what they are talking about or not.
Awan Gebu says
Betul-betul tak faham kenapa pihak berkuasa agama takut sangat yang para Muslimin negara ni akan ‘keliru’ kalau orang lain guna perkataan Allah. Di timur tengah semua agama pun guna perkataan Allah, tapi tak ada pulak orang yang keliru. Adakah bermakna Muslim Melayu ni jauh lebih bodoh dan senang terpedaya berbanding Muslim Arab?