Counsel for the Roman Catholic Church, Dr Cyrus Das, submitted that since the Court of Appeal decision on the ‘Allah’ issue, there has resulted an international focus on the country.

Cyrus ( right ) said high officials comprising United Nations special rapporteur on religious freedom, Heiner Bielfeldt, UN expert on minority issues Rita Izsak and UN special rapporteur Frank La Rue have expressed disquiet on the status of religious minority rights in Malaysia.

“This is as a result of the Court of Appeal judgments. Their comments have been officially published on the UN website.

“We submit that the spotlight on the court judgment by the relevant bodies of the UN and by international commentators demonstrates the public importance of this case domestically and internationally,” he said.

This, the senior counsel said, provides a compelling reason for the Federal Court as the apex court to grant a review of the appellate court’s judgment.

Besides the comments from the UN, it was reported by international media including from the Arab world and Indonesia, and Muslim scholars have questioned the Court of Appeal decision in not allowing the use of the word in a publication.

Cyrus, who was leading the Catholic Church’s team, said this in his application for leave (permission) to appeal at the Federal Court today. The Catholic church wants to overturn the appellate court decision in barring the use of the word ‘Allah’ in The Herald weekly Bahasa Malaysia publication.

The highly charged case saw the Palace of Justice being placed on high security, as several Muslim groups, some travelling from as far from Kedah, had gathered outside wanting the word to be exclusive used by Muslims.

At one point of time after proceedings, the protesters were seen circling the court complex wanting to stop the priests, led by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam and The Herald editor Lawrence Andrew, from leaving through the back door of the huge court complex.

However, quick work by the police stopped the protesters from doing so.

Cyrus did not play a role in the Home Ministry’s appeal at the Court of Appeal, and neither did his opposite number Sulaiman Abdullah, who is appearing for the Terengganu Islamic council. Both are former Bar Council presidents.

‘Pushing country backwards’

Cyrus further warned that should the Court of Appeal judgment be upheld without permission to appeal granted, it would push the country backwards in terms of dealing with the law on judicial review of not being able to question the decision-making process.

He said the Court of Appeal judgment shows that one cannot question the decision-making process by the home minister.

“This is against the current practice as done in Commonwealth countries, where they do allow the court to scrutinise the decision-makers, and if leave was not granted in the matter it would be a step backwards.”

Cyrus said the then-home minister (Syed Hamid Albar) had not stated reasons for the banning of the word, except citing public order and security.

However, he said The Herald had been using the word in the Bahasa Malaysia publication for 14 years prior to the banning of the word in 2009 without any untoward incident.

It was only after the Kuala Lumpur High Court decision which was delivered on Dec 31, 2009, that problems resulted.

Cyrus also pointed out that there are 1.6 million bumiputera Christians from Sabah and Sarawak.

“They comprise of 64 percent of the Christian population in the country and their constitutional rights in the matter have to be decided by the Federal Court, which is the highest court in the country,” he said.

Bumiputera Christians in Sabah and Sarawak have been using the word ‘Allah’ to denote God.

Another lawyer, Benjamin Dawson, pointed out some Malay literature dating back to the 18th and 19th centuries which was submitted at the High Court to prove that the word ‘Allah’ was used to refer to God.

‘Cabinet giving different interpretations’

The Court of Appeal decision, Cyrus said, resulted in confusion on the rights to use of the word, with the cabinet itself giving different interpretations, with some saying it is all right to use the word in Sabah and Sarawak while if you step down in peninsular Malaysia, non-Muslims cannot use the word.

There are several applications besides the Roman Catholic Church which are still pending following the lower courts waiting for the outcome of this case. These include the Sidang Injil Borneo matter where the judicial review application filed in 2007 would have its leave hearing held next month, as well as the Jill Ireland matter.

The Federal Court’s seven-member panel, which is chaired by Chief Justice Arifin Zakaria, reserved giving a decision on whether to grant leave.

The panel includes two-non Muslim judges namely Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Richard Malanjum and also Federal Court judge Jeffrey Tan Kok Wha.

The Muslim judges besides Justice Arifin are President of the Court of Appeal Md Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin, and Federal Court judges Suriyadi Halim Omar and Zainun Ali.