AN out-of-court settlement is on the cards between Putrajaya and Sarawakian Jill Ireland, bringing to a close a decade-long constitutional case that had sought to clarify the use of the word “Allah” by Christians. 

Lawyer Annou Xavier, who represents the 37-year-old Melanau, said a settlement may be reached with the Home Ministry and the government before a high court judicial review decision on Monday.

“There is a possibility that this matter will be resolved before Monday’s decision, or even after,” he told The Malaysian Insight without elaborating.

“Whether the decision is to be delivered on Monday is up to the discretion of the court.”

Ireland had sought a declaration that her constitutional right to practise her religion was violated by the imposition of a restriction or ban on the import of religious educational materials.

She also sought a declaration that native Bumiputera Christians in Sabah and Sarawak have 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.

Xavier said any settlement or decision on Monday will have wide implications. 

“This is a long-pending decision from the previous government, on the use of the word ‘Allah’. This issue has to be resolved soon.

“I personally believe that with the dawn of the new government and the new administration, the Christian community and Christian bodies in Malaysia will be able to engage and resolve this matter.”

Ten Christian bodies – including the Christian Federation of Malaysia, Borneo Evangelical Church, Sabah Council of Churches, Association of Churches in Sarawak and the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) – had lawyers who held watching brief during the case.  

Ireland has been campaigning for Christians’ right to use the word “Allah” since Immigration officials at the then Low-Cost Carrier Terminal in Sepang, Selangor, seized eight Christian CDs from her in May 2008 because they contained the word “Allah” in a Christian context.

After a seven-year legal battle, Ireland was given back the CDs in 2015, but she maintained that the court failed to address her constitutional right as a Christian to use the word.

Later that year, the Court of Appeal ordered the high court to hear Ireland’s judicial-review application. The court also ruled that senior Customs officer Suzanah Muin overstepped her authority when she ordered the seizure of CDs containing the word “Allah” from the clerk.

Suzanah said the seizure of the CDs was justified as the word “Allah” was exclusive to Islam.

The CD seizure followed a government threat in 2007 to revoke the printing licence of the Catholic newspaper, The Herald, for its use of the word “Allah” in its Malay-language edition.

The Home Ministry later banned the use of the word in January 2009 but that order was revoked in the same year by a high court ruling. Following the court decision, 10 churches nationwide were attacked or vandalised. 

In June 23, 2014, a seven-member panel, led by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, delivered a 4-3 decision against the Catholic church.

The four judges who decided against the church were Arifin, former Court of Appeal president Raus Sharif, former chief judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinudin and Federal Court judge Suriyadi Halim Omar.

Judges in favour of the church were former chief judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum and Federal Court judges Zainun Ali and Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha.

In March, the high court deferred its ruling on whether Christians can use the word “Allah” for the purpose of religious education.

A decision scheduled for March 22 was vacated and was later set to be held yesterday before being deferred yet again to Monday.

On both occasions, no reasons were given for the new dates. 

At the high court hearing in October, government lawyers said Putrajaya’s move to restrict or ban non-Muslim religious educational materials that contained the word “Allah” was permissible under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA) 1984.

The home minister has discretionary powers under Section 9 (1) of the PPPA on grounds of public order and national security, they said.

They added that a 1986 government directive prohibited the use of the terms “Allah, “Kaabah”, “Solat” and “Baitullah” in non-Muslim publications to prevent misunderstanding between Muslims and non-Muslims, especially in the peninsula. – August 10, 2018.