The Home Minister's ban on the word Allah in the Bahasa Malaysia section of Catholic publication, Herald, was premised on national security as it raises sensitive religious issues, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said.
He said the prohibition was done in accordance with provisions in the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 and subsidiary legislation.
"'National security' – that was the issue the government was concerned with. It had nothing to do with freedom of religion. It was only concerned with national security," Gani said in a keynote address at a recent legal conference.
The government's top lawyer said the September 14, 2013 Court of Appeal decision was confined to the publication of Herald and not the Al-Kitab, which were two publications of entirely different characters.
He said the Al-Kitab is the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bible and meant for Christians and for use in churches, while Herald is a publication which is also accessible online and could be read by Muslims as well as non-Muslims.
"The crux of the issue in the whole Kalimah Allah debate is whether it could be used to propagate Christianity to Muslims. It is not an issue of freedom of religion for Christians themselves," he added.
His speech, entitled "Current challenges in preserving social order and national harmony", was delivered at the Judicial and Legal Service Training Institute (ILKAP)" on November 11.
Gani said the court also found that the executive was also the best party to decide on matters relating to national security and public order.
"The minister is not obliged to wait for a threat or violence to occur before making his decision. It suffices if there exists a potential for such threat to national security and public order," he said.
The A-G also said the court had noted that the prohibition did not prevent the Christian community from practising their religion. The freedom of religion as provided under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution was not breached, he added.
The Court of Appeal judge Tan Sri Mohamad Apandi Ali, who chaired the bench, had said the restrictions were imposed to prevent the propagation of non-Muslim faiths on Muslims in Malaysia.
In setting aside a 2009 High Court ruling, he had also said that national security and public order could be threatened if the publisher of Herald was allowed to use the word Allah.
On June 23 this year, four of the seven-member Federal court bench dismissed the Catholic Church's leave application, citing that the Court of Appeal was right in its decision.
Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, president of Court of Appeal Tan Sri Md Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Tan Sri Zulkefli Ahmad Makinuddin and Federal Court judge Tan Sri Suriyadi Halim Omar were in the majority.
Three other judges – Chief Judge of Sabah and Sarawak Tan Sri Richard Malanjum, and Federal Court judges Datuk Zainun Ali and Tan Sri Jeffrey Tan Kok Hwa – held that leave must be granted to the church.
The church has filed an application to review the decision and it will be heard on January 21.
In his speech, Gani also said that secretary-general of the Home Ministry has issued a directive so that civil servants would correctly implement the Cabinet's "10-Point Solution" on the import, distribution and printing of Bahasa Malaysia and Indonesian Bibles here.
"Failure to comply will subject the officers to disciplinary action under the General Orders. A comprehensive briefing by top officials, including the Attorney-General (A-G), will be given to all relevant civil servants to ensure good understanding and proper implementation of the directive," Gani said.
Confiscations of Christian material in the Bahasa Malaysia language brought in from Indonesia has given rise to complaints about over-zealousness by civil servants.
One recent incident involved 574 Christians books and 419 CDs brought in by Sabahan Maklin Masiau, which were seized at klia2 by Customs officials on October 25.
The Home Ministry later said the items were seized not over the word Allah, but because Maklin did not have an import permit.
- TMI
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