Sabah church SIB tells Federal Court it will formally end bid to learn reasons for government’s 1986 ‘Allah’ ban

KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — Sabah church Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) today informed the Federal Court that it will be discontinuing its bid at the apex court to seek for documents to find out why the Malaysian government decided in 1986 to ban the word “Allah” in Christian publications.

Bobby Chew Chin Guan, a lawyer representing SIB and its president Rev Datuk Jerry Dusing, said his clients were no longer pursuing their application for the Federal Court’s leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s refusal to allow the disclosure of such documents.

Previously, the High Court had in October 2017 refused SIB’s discovery application to seek the disclosure of the documents as they were classified under the Official Secrets Act and the court felt it was not necessary for such documents to be disclosed for the Sabah church’s judicial review, while the High Court had also in October 2020 dismissed SIB’s appeal on the bid for the documents disclosure.

“In view of the High Court’s decision in Jill Ireland’s case last week, we have our client’s instructions to withdraw our Notice of Motion for leave to appeal against the Court of Appeal’s decision in the Discovery application,” Chew told Malay Mail when contacted following an online case management or e-review before Federal Court deputy registrar Rasidah Roslee.

Chew said that there was no objection by the Attorney General’s Chambers (AGC) on SIB’s intention to withdraw the leave application at the Federal Court.

Chew added that the Federal Court had asked for SIB to file the notice of discontinuance — to be signed by both SIB and the AGC, and for the Federal Court to be updated on the same matter on the next case management date of March 24.

The notice of discontinuance would be a formal notice to the courts of the Sabah church’s withdrawal of its leave to appeal at the Federal Court on the bid for the documents’ disclosure.

Tan Hooi Ping, another lawyer for the Sabah church, also confirmed that the Federal Court was informed of SIB’s instructions to withdraw the application for leave to appeal on the discovery matter, and that the court had fixed March 24 as the new case management date.

Last Wednesday (March 10), SIB’s lawyers had informed the High Court of its intention to not continue with the discovery bid at the Federal Court.

This was due to the High Court’s decision on the same day (March 10) in a separate case involving a Sarawakian Bumiputera Christian, Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill. Jill Ireland is a Bahasa Malaysia-speaking native of Sarawak’s Melanau tribe.

Jill Ireland’s case involved a challenge of the government’s seizure of her eight educational compact discs (CDs) containing the word “Allah” in their titles and which were meant for her personal use. The CDs were seized in 2008 based on the 1986 directive, but were previously returned in 2015 to Jill Ireland following court orders.

Among other things, the High Court had ruled that the government’s directive via a December 5, 1986 circular issued by the Home Ministry’s publications control division was unlawful and unconstitutional.

This 1986 written government directive — which banned the word “Allah” in Christian publications — was the same directive that SIB had wanted to find out more about through the courts.

SIB and its Dusing had on December 10, 2007 filed for judicial review to challenge the Home Ministry’s decision on August 15, 2007 to seize three boxes of Malay-language Christian educational books that were meant for Christian children.

The Home Ministry had seized the three boxes of books — that contained the word “Allah” and that were imported from Indonesia by SIB — at the international budget airport terminal in Sepang while in transit, but later returned them to Sabah church on January 25, 2008 with the condition that the front page would be stamped with a “cross” sign and the words “Christian publication”.

As part of the court case, SIB had previously filed a discovery application to ask for two sets of documents, including documents such as letters and meetings minutes containing the reasons for the government’s 1986 ban of the word “Allah” in Christian publications; documents showing confusion among Malaysians or misunderstanding between Muslims and Christians over the use of the word “Allah” in Bahasa Malaysia Christian publications; or showing threats to public order due to non-Muslims’ use of the term.

The second set of documents sought was for those where the government had granted approval to import, publish, produce, distribute or own any Christian publications with the word “Allah”.

SIB had filed for leave for appeal to the Federal Court on the discovery application, after both the High Court and Court of Appeal had refused the application to have the documents disclosed.

On March 10, SIB’s lawyer Lim Heng Seng said his clients would not pursue its appeal at the Federal Court to seek the discovery of the documents, in light of the High Court’s decision in Jill Ireland’s case which he said showed that the courts could be able to decide on SIB’s case without needing the disclosure of the documents.

In the SIB judicial review, the church and Dusing are seeking a recognition of their rights — including a declaration that it is their constitutional right to use the word “Allah” in Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia translations of the bible and in religious materials to instruct their children in their religion, in line with the right to freedom of religion and right to education under the Federal Constitution’s Article 11 and Article 12.

The High Court had in May 2014 dismissed SIB’s application for leave to have its judicial review heard, while the Court of Appeal had in October 2014 granted SIB leave for judicial review and sent the case back to the High Court to be heard. 

As for the actual hearing of the judicial review at the High Court in SIB’s case, it has yet to start and had previously been put on hold while waiting for the Sabah church’s court bid for documents to shed light on the reason for the government’s 1986 ban.

The word “Allah” is Arabic for God and had been adopted into the Malay language, and had been used for generations by Malay-speaking Christians in the country, especially those living in Sabah and Sarawak.