High Court judge Lau Bee Lan has set Dec 30 for his decision on the landmark case on whether a Catholic weekly can used the word “Allah”.

Early, the court was told that the nation's leaders are responsible for protecting Islam at all times as it is a duty spelled out in the Federal Constitution.

herald the catholic weekly online 241207 Senior federal counsel Mohamad Naser Disa said the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Malay rulers at the states level had a duty to protect Islam as the official religion of the country in accordance to Article 37 of the Federal Constitution.

He said this responsibility was not only confined to the highest leader of the nation or state, but also the three branches of the government - legislature, executive and judiciary.

"The Home Minister who discharges the executive's responsibility in the name of the Yang di-Pertuan Agong is bound by the oath of His Majesty to uphold the sanctity of Islam, and as such, the minister is right in prohibiting the use of the word "Allah" by the publisher of the Catholic weekly Herald , as the result (if used) will entail smearing Islam," he said.

Mohamed Naser said this in his reply to the application for a judicial review filed by the Kuala Lumpur Roman Catholic Church over the prohibition on the use of the word "Allah" in the weekly.

In the hearing, which entered its second day today, Mohamad Naser further submitted that the ban on the use of the word "Allah" in the publication did not affect freedom of religion of the applicant and Christians.

"The applicant has also failed to show that the use of the word Allah is a basic teaching in the Christian religion," he added.

‘This is not a battle of religions’

On Jan 7, the home minister approved The Herald's publishing permit on the condition the word "Allah" is not used in it and the words "Restricted" must be printed on the weekly's front page whereby it could only be circulated to Christians and at churches only.

The minister had justified the ban on grounds of national security and to avoid misunderstanding and confusion among Muslims.

Mohamad Naser submitted further that "Allah" was the proper noun for the one and only God, was enshrined in the al-Quran and given its due respect in the Federal Constitution and as such, any effort to lower the prestige of the sanctity of the word was an insult to the Federal Constititution.

herald judicial review decision 050508 father lawrence andrew porres royan Counsel Porres Royan ( right ), who represented the plaintiff, in his counter-submission stressed that the ban imposed by the minister was unreasonable, invalid and was against religious freedom.

"This is not a battle of religions but a purely legal issue as to whether the minister is entitled to impose restrictions on the usage of the word Allah," he said.

He further contended that Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution did not provide powers to control or restrict the propagation of any doctrines or religious beliefs among non-Muslims.

- Bernama