The Kuala Lumpur High Court will decide on May 5 whether to grant leave (permission) for the court to review a government order which disallowed Catholic weekly Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia articles.

Justice Lau Bee Lan, from the appellate and special powers division, announced the date after presiding over the hour-long hearing today.

On March 19, applicant Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of KL filed for a judicial review against the internal security minister and government over the order that disallowed Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in the Bahasa Malaysia section of the publication.

The ministry at that time led by Johari Baharum initially held back the weekly’s publishing licence last year over this matter but later granted a permit with no conditions attached after a stern outcry from the Catholic community.

Not proper

Archbishop Murphy Pakiam on behalf of Herald is seeking from the court:

- leave to apply for the ministry to declare that its decision to prohibit Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its publication is null and void; Herald is entitled to use the word ‘Allah’ in the publication and that the word ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to the religion of Islam.

- leave to quash the ministry’s decision in prohibiting Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its publication

- an order for Herald to continue using ‘Allah’ in its publication until the court decides on the matter.

Senior federal counsel Azizah Haji Nawawi submitted that the declarations sought for should be raised in a civil suit and not through a judicial review which is only limited to orders made by the ministry.

"It is not proper for the declarations to be parked under this judicial review application because a judicial review only deals with a review of the minister’s decision namely the attached guidelines for the publication not to use the word ‘Allah’.

"The declarations sought for is a private law matter which can only be proven factually by calling expert witnesses to give evidence in a civil suit," she told the court.

She pointed out that the declarations would best be argued in the civil lawsuit Herald filed against the government on Dec 7 last year concerning the same matters.

Azizah also argued that statements in the judicial review application pertaining to the translation and historical use of ‘Allah’ as well as assertions that the word ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to the religion of Islam should be expunged.

Exclusive for one community?

However, Pakiam’s counsel Porres Royan argued that it was premature for Azizah to raise the unsuitability of the declarations now when it is merely at the leave stage.

He also defended that the declarations sought for fall under the judicial review because it was the reason why the ministry issued the restrictive publication guidelines to Herald.

According to him, Herald has received several written warnings from the ministry not to use certain words and these restrictions were later formally instituted in the publication’s guidelines.

"It is clear that the guidelines are being challenged today because the (ministry) takes the view that only the Muslim community is entitled to use this particular word.

"The (ministry) has taken a stand that the reason given to (Herald) why they cannot use the word ‘Allah’ is because it is exclusive to a particular faith and that is why our stand is not taken against an ordinary individual but against the ministry and the government," he explained.

"Therefore the ( Herald ) is using the court to declare whether it is right for the (ministry) to say only one community can use the word and no other communities can," he added.

Justice Lau then told the packed courtroom that she will fix May 5 for the decision and adjourned the hearing.

Also present were Pakiam’s lawyers S Selvarajah, Leonard Teoh and Annou Xavier while SFC Suzanna Atan assisted Azizah.

Herald , which publishes news and information for Catholics in Malaysia in four languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil -has a circulation of around 12,000.