PUTRAJAYA: The Home Ministry's move to withdraw the appeal against the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court regarding the use of the word "Allah", amongst others, is due to a contradiction found between a Home Ministry administrative order and a Cabinet decision made in 1986, says Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail.
The Home Minister said this was related to the confiscation of published materials at that time and not a theological issue involving the use of the words.
"The decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court was made using a civil and administrative legal approach, which is the issue related to the confiscation of publication materials at that time and not from a theological point of view or anything involving the use of the words.
"This is because the function of the Court itself is not appropriate to decide matters related to religion specifically," he said.
"Thus, in the judgment of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on March 10, 2021, it is clear that the Judge made a decision based on an administrative approach and it was found to be consistent with the decision of the Federal Court in the case of the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur vs the Home Affairs Minister in 2014," he told reporters at the Immigration Department Hari Raya celebration here on Tuesday (May 16).
"Regarding this, the Government's decision not to proceed with the appeal is made on a case-by-case basis; without affecting the facts of each case that is currently in court," he explained.
Saifuddin explained that the Ministry has refined and carefully examined the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court on March 10, 2021, and found that there was a contradiction in the administrative instructions which caused the decision to favour Jill Ireland.
Therefore, his ministry is studying and updating a more comprehensive administrative directive to deal with the issue of using the words in publications.
"While the appeal application process was ongoing, the Home Ministry also carefully studied the decision of the Kuala Lumpur High Court in March 2021, which found a discrepancy between the decision made by the Cabinet on May 19, 1986, and an Administrative Directive issued by the Ministry on Dec 5, 1986.
"Therefore, the KDN took steps to review and update a more comprehensive directive to address the issue of using the words 'Allah', 'Baitullah', 'Solat', and 'Kaabah' in order to be in line with the interests and benefits of the multi-racial and multi-religious community in Malaysia as well as more effective supervision and control of publications that violate the legal provisions in force," he added.
"The Ministry is committed to defending and protecting the interests of Islam, the Malays and the Royal Institution in Malaysia as provided for in the Federal Constitution.
"The Ministry's position is to respect, certify, and adopt the enactment of the states and the order of the (Yang di-Pertuan) Agong on Feb 7, 2023 which states that the existing policy that is currently in force regarding the issue of the use of the words.
"The Federal Constitution provides that although every individual has the right to profess and practice their religion, they are still subject to federal and state laws that can control or restrict the development of other religious doctrines or beliefs among Muslims," he explained.
