Court Case Over Confiscation of VCDs With Word ‘Allah’

Another Allah Case Goes Before High Court Tomorrow

MySinChew 11 Jan 2010 LINK

KUALA LUMPUR 11 Jan – The High Court is scheduled to hear an application tomorrow brought by a Sarawakian bumiputra Christian for the return of eight CD’s containing contain the word Allah which she claimed were wrongfully confiscated by the government about two years ago.

Lawyers for Jill Ireland binti Lawrence Bill, 29, a Melanau native Bumiputra from Sarawak said she is suing the Home Minister Hishamuddin Hussein and the Government of Malaysia.According to court filings, on 11 May 2008 Jill flew back from Indonesia and disembarked at the Low Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang. She had brought in eight video compact discs containing religious materials for her personal use. The VCDs had the word ‘Allah” printed on them. The VCDs were detained for inspection by the Customs which later handed them over to the Home Ministry.

Jill Ireland later received a letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs stating that the VCDs were confiscated as she had brought in the VCDs unlawfully and failed to pay customs duty. The reasons for the confiscation was that the religious materials were a threat to national security and had breached Jakim (Islamic Affairs Department) guidelines on the usage of prohibited words.

She claims in her affidavit that as a native Sarawakian, she uses the word “Allah” in her prayers, worship and religious education. She also prays using both the Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia Al Kitab which uses the word “Allah”.

She is also asking the court for an Order of Certiorari to quash the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs in confiscating her VCDs as well as damages. Justice Alizatul Khair Bt Osman of the KL High Court granted her leave on 4 May 2009 to apply for an order of Judicial Review. She is represented by Lim Heng Seng and Annou Xavier.