Sabah SIB withdrew the court action last month
Published on: Saturday, May 20, 2023
By: FMT
The 16-year legal contest by a Sabah-based church against Putrajaya on its right to use the word “Allah” in religious publications and education has ended with withdrawal of the suit. The church and Dusing filed a judicial review application in December, 2007, against the home ministry and the government over their right to use the word “Allah” when referring to God in their religious publications.
Kuala Lumpur: The 16-year legal contest by a Sabah-based church against Putrajaya on its right to use the word “Allah” in religious publications and education has ended with withdrawal of the suit.Sources said Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) and its President Jerry W A Dusing last month filed a notice of discontinuance at the Kuala Lumpur High Court.
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Senior federal counsel Shamsul Bolhassan confirmed that SIB and Dusing had brought their suit to a close.
“We were served a copy of the notice (of discontinuance),” he said, adding that the parties had already filed their respective written submissions in preparation of the hearing, which was scheduled to take place on May 29.
The church and Dusing filed a judicial review application in December, 2007, against the home ministry and the government over their right to use the word “Allah” when referring to God in their religious publications.
The suit came about after Malay-language Christian religious books containing the word “Allah”, brought in from Surabaya, Indonesia, were seized by the customs department at the low-cost carrier terminal in Sepang in August 2007.
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The books were returned to SIB in January 2008.
SIB, however, was also seeking a declaration that it has the constitutional right to use the word in its publications and for educational purposes.
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In May 2014, the Kuala Lumpur High Court dismissed the church’s application for leave to begin judicial review proceedings, but that decision was reversed by the Court of Appeal in October 2014.
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