Court to determine validity of law over hurting others' religious feelings

The Kuala Lumpur High Court is set to look into the validity of a law that criminalises the hurting of other people's religious feelings.

The Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court today allowed the constitutional referral application by the controversial movie “Mentega Terbang's” director Mohd Khairianwar Jailani (above, left) and producer Tan Meng Kheng, in relation to Section 298 of the Penal Code.

As a result, while the main criminal charges against the duo remain at the magistrates court, the High Court will later set a date to hear the parties' oral submissions on the validity of Section 298.

The duo's lawyer Zaid Malek confirmed the outcome of the court proceedings. The duo is facing a charge under the provision with wounding the religious feelings of others.

They are seeking the High Court's determination on whether the phrase “wounding religious feeling” in the provision is vague and contravenes freedom of speech and expression.

Their cases are still pending before the court and are yet to go to full trial.

Released in 2021 but banned last year, the movie tells the story of 15-year-old Aishah, who in the face of her mother’s death, gets drawn into exploring the concept of rebirth as contained in other religions.

Her father is also shown as a liberal character who has no issues with his daughter studying the holy scriptures of other religions in search of an answer.

On Jan 17 this year before the Magistrate's Court, Khairianwar and Tan claimed trial on the charge of intentionally hurting the religious feelings of others.

The offence under Section 298 is punishable with a maximum of one year in jail, a fine or both.

Khairianwar, 31, is accused of committing the offence as director and scriptwriter of the movie on Feb 26 last year.

Tan, who is also a teacher, was alleged to have committed the offence in his capacity as producer of the controversial film on the same date.

They were alleged to have committed the offence at a unit at Diamond Regency, Jalan Semarak Api 2, Kuala Lumpur around 12.34pm.

They were also accused of intentionally hurting the religious sentiments of other people via utterances and the placement of objects within sight of the people whose religious sentiment was allegedly hurt.

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