KUALA LUMPUR, July 7 — If patience is still a virtue today, the Catholic Church must be almost saintly as it waits out the many interruptions in its fight to use the word “Allah.”
The High Court here today postponed hearing the controversial suit brought by the Catholic Church challenging the government ban on the word “Allah” to mean God outside of Islam, the official religion in Malaysia.
Judge Lau Bee Lan had earlier scheduled to hear the arguments today, causing a large turnout of men and women of the cloth in court.
But she suspended the hearing after a half-hour meeting in chambers with an army of lawyers representing several religious groups, all claiming they had a right to be involved in the case.
A total of 10 parties representing the state Islamic councils for Kedah, Penang, Perak, Selangor, Malacca, Johor, Terengganu and the Federal Territory demanded to be allowed to intervene.
Two other groups: the Malaysian Chinese-Muslim Association and the Malaysian Gurdwara Council also want in.
The Sikhs claim to be an interested party as they also use the word “Allah” in their worship.
Lau fixed next Friday to settle the arguments from the 10 parties on why they should be allowed to step in, before going on to hear the dispute between the church and the state, senior federal counsel from the Attorney-General’s Chambers Suzana Atan told reporters.
Counsel for the church S. Selvarajah told The Malaysian Insider the law at present does not allow other parties to intercede in a direct dispute.
But he noted that a separate case ongoing at the Federal Court may soon change that.
The Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) is appealing to the top court to be allowed to intervene in a dispute between the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) with Bong Boon Chuen and 150 landowners over Islamic burial land in neighbouring Selangor.
The Shah Alam High Court had dismissed Mais’ challenge last year but the Federal Court has yet to decide.
Sevarajah said the Federal Court decision would set a legal example for the state Islamic councils to adopt in the “Allah” dispute.
The Catholic Church which publishes The Herald, a weekly newspaper available in Bahasa Melayu, English, Mandarin and Tamil, is challenging the Home Minister’s right to ban it from printing the word “Allah” in a non-Muslim context.
In its application filed in February this year, the church claimed the government had abused its authority and denied Catholics their constitutional right to freely practice their religion in Malaysia.
Reverend Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of The Herald, explained the word “Allah” is used to cater to the large population of Malay-speaking Catholic aborigines.
But the government insists that the Malaysian Muslim fraternity would be confused if non-Muslims are allowed to also use the word to refer to their God.
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