Herald allowed to proceed court appeal

Let us pray for Justice Lau Bee Lan. She is bold to stand for justice. We want to see judiciary in Malaysia to come back independent.

The news was taken from http://www.mysinchew.com/node/10953:

PETALING JAYA: The High Court of Kuala Lumpur on Monday (5 May) allowed the Catholic Church to proceed with its bid to unshackle the government’s gag order prohibiting it from using the word “Allah” in its Herald-The Catholic Weekly- through a judicial review.

The government had earlier argued that the church’s application is frivolous and had urged the court to throw it out but Madam Justice Lau Bee Lan disagreed and allowed the application by the Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Datuk Murphy Pakiam, for leave to sue the government regarding the use of the word “Allah” to proceed.

The suit was filed against the Internal Security Minister who was previously Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi but now Syed Hamid Albar and the Federal government. The Church is now to file its application with the court for substantive hearing at a later date. The Church is represented by Porres Royan, Leonard Teoh, S. Selvarajah, and Annou Xavier while the respondents are represented by senior Federal Counsel Azizah Haji Nawawi and Suzanna Atan.

The court’s ruling was greeted with relief by a courtroom packed with nuns and supporters of the Herald and the Catholic Church as well as observers from the Sidang Injil Borneo, which is also suing the government over the prohibition of the word “Allah” in another case. Many were wearing T-shirts emblazoned with the word “HERALD”
While this is seen as a victory of sorts, it is actually a mundane court matter when someone wants to sue the government is almost invariably given the nod to