PETALING JAYA- 4 Mar: Another dispute over usage of the Allah word is coming up again before the Kuala Lumpur High Court Friday despite efforts to resolve it out of court by parties.

The case which is over two years old, is brought by the Sidang Injil Borneo Sabah and its president Rev Jerry Dusing, arising from confiscation on 15 July 2007 by the Home Ministry of their Sunday School publications in Bahasa Indonesia which contained the word Allah to refer to God.

The SIB is trying to get the court to quash the Home Minister’s decision not to allow the church to import the Bahasa Indonesia publications as well as for several declarations related to the Allah word.

The SIB application was filed before the Catholic Herald case but has not been heard as permission has not been granted yet for the case to proceed. It would be mentioned before a new judge, Datuk Aziah Ali, tomorrow.

The government has asked for the case to be thrown out without a hearing. This is seen as unlikely to succeed tomorrow in the light of the Herald judgment.

The High Court has ruled on 31 Dec 2009 in favour of Herald-The Catholic Weekly- and that it has the right to use the Allah word in its Bahasa Malaysia edition. The Attorney General has filed notice of appeal to overturn this ruling.

In the Herald’s case, it was prohibited under the Internal Security Act from using the Allah word in its Bahasa edition while in the SIB case it is prohibited also under the ISA from importing Sunday School books published in Bahasa Indonesia using the Allah word.

Although the circumstances of the two cases are different, the legal issues involved are closely similar, hence the urgency to settle the matter out of court in the wake of the Herald judgment.

Complicating the matter further is that both the Minister’s decisions were made under the Publications and Printing Presses Act although the actual prohibition of usage of the Allah word is exercised under gazette orders made under the ISA, thus treating the matter as a security threat.

Hot on the heels of tomorrow’s case is yet another suit filed by Jill Ireland binti Lawrence Bill, 29, a Melanau native Bumiputra Christian from Sarawak whose personal audio compact discs (CDs) containing the Allah word were confiscated at the LCCT airport in Sepang two years ago.
Jill Ireland now lives in Kuala Lumpur and is a member of the SIB Semenanjung which is backing her case.
(by BOB TEOH, MySinchew)