A 1986 cabinet directive which prohibits non-Muslims from using the world “Allah” can still be used to confiscate publications deemed to cause public disorder, the Kuala Lumpur High Court was told today. 

Additionally, the directive is not superseded by the 10-point solution announced by the government in 2011, said lawyers defending the government.

Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan, in his submission to judge Nor Bee Arifin today, said the 10-point solution only applied to the confiscated bibles then.

Shamsul said there was also no “illegality” with regard to the Printing, Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984 when the government seized the materials in 2008.

“The 10-point solution is to resolve issues pertaining to the importation, printing, distribution and the usage of bibles in Sabah, Sarawak and the peninsula. It cannot be interpreted to mean other than what is written in the said letter.

“The directive was in 1986 and if the 10-point solution is to supersede the directive, it would have been said so.”

Shamsul said the question of whether the government should adhere to the 10-point solution instead of relying on the 1986 directive did not arise as the former only came in 2011.

In 1986, Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s administration issued a cabinet directive barring the sue of the term “Allah” by non-Muslims on the grounds of public order and prevention of misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians. 

The directive was never really put to use until 2008 when Customs officers confiscated eight CDs bearing the word “Allah” from Sarawakian Christian Jill Ireland’s religious CDs at the at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang on May 11, 2008.

The CDs were subsequently kept by the Home Ministry.

Following the seizure, Jill filled a judicial review to question the ministry’s decision to keep the CDs, which she had bought for personal use.

The judicial review sought a declaration that Jill, along with other native Bumiputera Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, had the constitutional right to practise the Christian religion “freely and without hindrance”, including the right to use all religious terminologies in the Malay and Indonesian languages in the same way as when the Borneo states joined Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963.

In 2011, Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration issued the 10-point solution just days before the Sarawak elections and returned a confiscated shipment of Malay-language bibles containing the word “Allah” to the Bible Society Malaysia.

On October 19, Jill’s lawyers submitted that the 2011 10-point solution should override the confiscation order and allow the return of the CDs. 

Today, Shamsul argued that the ministry had been given discretionary power under Section 9 (1) of the PPPA, which is beyond the powers of Article 11 (5) on freedom of religion in the federal constitution as the minister can impose restrictions or prohibitions on grounds of public order and national security.

Shamsul said the 10-point solution has already “settled the qualms” of Jill and her fellow congregation, referring to paragraph four to six which read:

“4. For Sabah and Sarawak, in recognition of the large Christian community in these states, there are no conditions attached to the importation and local printing of the Bibles in all languages, including Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia and indigenous languages. There is no requirement for any stamp or serial number.

“5. Taking into account the interest of the larger Muslim community, for Peninsular Malaysia, Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia, imported or printed, must have the words ‘Christian Publication’ and the cross sign printed on the front covers.

“6. In the spirit of 1Malaysia and recognising that many people travel between Sabah and Sarawak and Peninsular Malaysia, there should be no prohibitions and restrictions for people who bring along their bibles and Christian materials on such travel.”

In response, Lim Heng Seng, who is lead counsel for Jill, referred to a government a memo issued by the Home Ministry, ordering officials to comply with the 10-point solution.

He asked why is it that an “obsolete” and “redundant” 1986 government directive is used to hang over Christians like the “sword of Damocles”. – November 15, 2017.