Magnimously consented to AG's request... that 'Allah' issue case.

The government of Malaysia filed an application for a stay apparently yesterday, and the matter was fixed for a hearing today. In Malaysia, the other side rightfully has up to 14 days to file in an Afidavit in Reply before the hearing can proceed. So, what would have happened today would have been rightfully an adjournment so that the Affidavit in Reply could be filed, and then a hearing date set for the hearing of the stay application.

What happened was that the Attorney General turned up personally (very odd), and there was a discussion. On the AG's request, the lawyers for the Catholic Church agreed magnanimously to a stay of the effect of the order pending appeal. This was informed to the court. It would thus be a 'without prejudice' order by consent...

"We have asked and the lawyers representing the Catholic church have agreed to the stay, out of national interest," said Gani Patail.

Fernandez agreed that the church has consented to the AG's request.- Malaysiakini, 6/1/2009, 'Allah' issue: Home Ministry gets stay order

Hence, that was no hearing of the stay application on the merits, and there certainly was no judgment after the hearing.

But, I worry that some will not understand really what happened...and take it wrongly as being a victory for the Government, and a defeat for the Catholic Church. Magnanimity should never be construed as 'surrender' or 'defeat'.

Malaysiakini's title is also misleading - it should have been something like 'Parties Consent to Stay Order', ...The article could have been better written...

Anyway, let us see how the mainstream media reports this. Will they report the truth as it is? Or will their report convey the wrong impression..?

Will the magnanimity of the Catholic Church be appreciated, and the result in an end...or a moderation of the protest by certain quarters....Or will this act of magnanimity be wasted exercise?

Courts decide according to law...and legal principles - not because of public pressure or government directives/policy...or other external factors. We shall see how the Court of Appeal deals with this appeal..

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today granted a stay in favour of the Home Ministry to stop Catholic weekly magazine Herald, from using the word 'Allah' pending an appeal.

Lawyers acting for the magazine did not object to the application, citing the ground of national interest.

The application was heard in chambers by High Court judge Lau Bee Lan. Attorney-general Abdul Gani Patail (right) appeared in person for the ministry while Derek Fernandez and Benjamin Dawson appeared for Herald.

"We have asked and the lawyers representing the Catholic church have agreed to the stay, out of national interest," said Gani Patail.

Fernandez agreed that the church has consented to the AG's request.

However, he said the public should now refrain from commenting further on the decision.

"We (Roman Catholics) are a peace-loving people and (bad) comments are unwarranted," he said.
"We want the AG to take action against those individuals who have made such irresponsible statements."
Controversial court decision
Also present at the hearing was Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew who met with Abdul Gani in the witness room before the application was heard.

On Dec 31, Lau ruled that pursuant to Articles 11 and 12 of the federal constitution, Herald had the constitutional right to use the word in respect of instruction and education of the congregation in the Christian religion.

She also said that, pursuant to Article11(4) of the federal constitution, it is an offence for non-Muslims to use the word 'Allah' to Muslims to propagate the religion but it is not an offence for non-Muslims to use the word to non-Muslims for the purpose of religion.

On Monday, the Home Ministry lodged an appeal at the Court of Appeal against the decision. Yesterday the ministry filed the application for the stay.

The court decision has led to angry reactions from Muslims, who feel that 'Allah' is exclusive to Islam.

Application to intervene rejected

In chambers today, Justice Lau rejected a joint application by six state Islamic bodies and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association to submit in the Home Ministry's stay application.

Lau ruled that the seven parties could not intervene in the ministry's application.
During the trial proper, Lau had rejected the application by the same seven parties to be included as interveners.

The six religious councils are from Federal Territory, Selangor, Kedah, Terengganu, Malacca and Johor.

The six councils and the Malaysian Chinese Muslim Association had also filed an appeal against Lau's decision to dismiss them as interveners as well as against her decision in favour of Herald.- Malaysiakini, 6/1/2009, 'Allah' issue: Home Ministry gets stay order

The Star Report -

The High Court granted the Home Ministry a stay of execution on the recent ruling allowing the Herald weekly magazine to use the word “Allah” in its Malay-language edition, pending the hearing of an appeal.

The lawyers representing the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, as publisher of the Catholic weekly, agreed to the stay by the Home Ministry and Justice Lau Bee Lan granted the stay in chambers, said Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail.

“I requested for the stay of execution to be heard quickly. The faster the matter is settled, the better it will be for everyone in the country,” he said, adding that it was done based on “national interest.”

“I am grateful that my learned friend agreed to the stay and we will try to have the matter heard as soon as possible in the Court of Appeal,” he said after coming out of the chambers in High Court.

Abdul Gani said that people should not assume that there was “something wrong” just because the matter was heard so quickly.

“No, there was nothing wrong. I can refer you to a case in Australia where a stay of execution was heard within a few days,” he said. The Home Ministry had filed its application for a stay only the day before.

The lawyer representing the Herald, Derek Fernandez, said they agreed with the stay because the request made by the Attorney-General was based on national interest.

“We agreed to the stay pending the appeal at the Court of Appeal,” he said.

Derek also said they were concerned with the breach of the subjudice rule by many parties which showed disrespect to the court and Abdul Gani had assured that he would uphold the law.

“We made it clear that the Attorney-General must enforce the subjudice rule,” he said.

On Feb 16, Archbishop Murphy filed for a judicial review on the use of the word “Allah” in the church’s publications for the period Jan 1 to Dec 31, 2009, naming the Home Ministry and the Government as respondents and claiming that the word “Allah” was not exclusive to the religion of Islam.

The Herald, which is printed in four languages, has been using the word “Allah” as a translation for “God” in its Malay-language section.

On Dec 31, Judge Lau had ruled that pursuant to Articles 11 and 12 of the Federal Constitution, the Herald had the constitutional right to use the word in respect of instruction and education of the congregation in the Christian religion.

She also said that pursuant to Article 11(4) of the Federal Constitution, it was an offence for non-Muslims to use the word “Allah” to Muslims to propagate the religion but it was not an offence for non-Muslims to use the word to non-Muslims for the purpose of religion.

The word “Allah” is widely used among the indigenous Christian groups in Sabah and Sarawak, most of whom speak Bahasa Malaysia.

The Home Minister had justified the ban on the grounds of national security and to avert misunderstanding and confusion among Muslims.

On Monday, the ministry lodged an appeal with the Court of Appeal against the Dec 31 ruling and on Tuesday filed for a stay of execution pending the appeal. - Star, 6/1/2009, Stay granted on ‘Allah’ ruling (Updated)