COMMENT The Court of Appeal has finally ruled in favour of Jill Ireland’s case and ordered the Royal Customs Department and the Home Ministry to return the personal belongings to Jill.

Earlier, the Kuala Lumpur High Court had also favoured Jill Ireland, but both the Home Ministry and Customs decided that they would continue to appeal against the High Court’s decision.

In the case, Jill had merely purchased the CDs from Indonesia which were meant for her personal consumption. She belongs to a Christian community in East Malaysia, who for centuries, have been using the name ‘Allah’ in their scriptures.

Judging from the contents of the CDs, they  were never intended for proselytisation. No one in their right frame of mind would even expect a pre-believer to be converted while listening to a worship song.

Worship songs are meant for the believers to uplift the name of God. They are sung during church services by believers. This fits well within the framework of Article 11 of the federal constitution which safeguards the rights of non-Muslims to exercise their religion without any restrictions.

Outrageous

However, the Royal Malaysian Customs confiscated the CDs from Jill when she landed at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT).

This is outrageous especially when both Home Ministry and Customs are involved, yet Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak is not showing any leadership in putting a stop to the nonsense despite all the talk about being moderates and the signing of the 10-Point Agreement before the last general election.       

Both Najib and Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi are Umno ministers. In the past, Umno ministers would have hauled up these little Napoleons for questioning, but the situation has changed, because Umno Baru as it is now is no longer the same as Umno during Tunku Abdul Rahman’s time.

The Jill Ireland case is a clear betrayal of the federal government towards the people of Sarawak, and as such, the present Chief Minister Adenan Satem ( photo ) has a lot to answer for regarding the sins of Umno in the peninsula.

It is one thing for him to condemn Umno in a public speech, but it is really another thing for him to lead his party away from the Umno-led Barisan Nasional. By sleeping on the same bed with Umno, Adenan’s own reputation as a moderate is also at stake.

Politicians in Sarawak should raise this issue with their chief minister since the Appeals Court case involves one of their own natives, especially since this is clearly an infringement into Jill’s freedom to practice her religion.

West Malaysian lawyers like Lim Heng Seng have put in their resources to bring the case to the court of justice; therefore, East Malaysian Christians should also do their part to raise the question with Adenan.

After all, as a church, we are one body united in spirit whether East or West Malaysia. When one part of the body suffers, all suffer together. We should not allow politicians who try to divide us based on geographical separation.

Personally, I am disappointed with some East Malaysian politicians who, like wolves in sheep’s clothing, have betrayed their own brothers and sisters.

In the next general election, they should be voted out for once, regardless of how many times they may have won the elections. This will be the biggest blow on politicians from East Malaysia who have put their political interest above that of the people.

Press on

Given that the appellate court has ruled in favour of Jill, it would be shameful for both the Home Ministry and the Royal Customs Department to now bring the case further to the Apex Court over a few CDs belonging to one Sarawakian native.

If they do decide to bring the case further, the team of lawyers working on the case should press on with what they have to do. Churches in both peninsular and East Malaysia will be praying for them. The legal battle is one of the many frontiers that we cannot help but continue to put on the good fight.

Had the case not been challenged in court, more such incidents would happen at our Customs checkpoints. Sometimes, it does not make sense at all that a case like this should even go to the Appeals Court after the lawyers had won the case at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.

It need not go beyond the High Court, but only politicians are to be blamed when cases like this go all the way to the Federal Court.

The Christian community has no choice but to take the bull by the horn and defend their right to exercise their religion without any restrictions. The times may be challenging but we have to fight a good fight.

STEPHEN NG is an ordinary citizen with an avid interest in following political developments in the country since 2008.