YEAR-ENDER: Landmark court rulings

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YEAR-ENDER: Landmark court rulings

Posted on 31 December 2014 - 09:23pm
Last updated on 1 January 2015 - 12:04am
Karen Arukesamy and S Tamarai Chelvi
newsdesk@thesundaily.com [1]
Print [2]

[3]

THE nation saw several landmark court cases this year that redefines what is
constitutional and upheld the guaranteed fundamental rights of citizens.
Yet the most popular court trials that received national and international attention was
the government's ban on the use of the word "Allah" in the Catholic weekly, Herald and
the Pakatan Rakyat leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim's sodomy conviction appeal.
After the 2009 ruling that allowed churches to use the word "Allah", the government
entered another long battle with the Catholic churches over the case as the
government appealed to overturn the 2009 High Court decision.
In June, four of the seven-member panel dismissed the church's application for appeal,
citing that the Court of Appeal was right in its decision to ban the use of the "Allah"
word in the Herald, which was circulated only to Catholics in the church.
Chief Justice Tun Arifin Zakaria, who led the seven-man bench, had reportedly said the
President of Court of Appeal Md Raus Sharif, Chief Judge of Malaya Zulkefli Ahmad
Makinuddin and Federal Court Judge Suriyadi Halim Omar agreed that leave should
not be granted.
Hundreds of Muslim NGOs gathered with placards saying "Allah is only for Muslims"
outside the Palace of Justice, which was cordoned off several metres away from the
main entrance.
The Federal Court has now fixed Jan 21, 2015, to hear the church's review application
following its failure to get leave to appeal the home minister's ban.

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The apex court is also expected to deliver its decision on Anwar's sodomy conviction
appeal early next year.
Accused of sodomising his former aide Mohd Saiful Bukhari Azlan in 2008, Anwar, who
was acquitted in the High Court was later convicted by the Court of Appeal in March
sentencing him to five years of jail.
The hearing before a five-member panel chaired by Arifin went on for eight days from
the initial two days.
International human rights observers, lawyers and parliamentarians followed the
proceedings closely while hundreds of Anwar's supporters gathered outside the Palace
of Justice, which was cordoned off for at least 300m from the main entrance.
Another landmark case was also related to religion. It was battles over children's
custody when one of the parents converted to Islam. The cases involved two Hindu
mothers, S. Deepa and M. Indira Gandhi, who became embroiled in custody disputes
with their ex-husbands who converted to Islam.
Deepa and Indira Ghandi had obtained orders from the Seremban and Ipoh High
courts respectively for issuance of recovery orders against the police to assist in
locating their ex-husbands, Izwan Abdullah and Muhammad Ridhuan Abdullah, who
had allegedly taken their children.
This year also saw another landmark ruling by the Court of Appeal when it held that the
death of DAP political aide Teoh Beng Hock Teoh was due to an unlawful act by
someone or several unknown people.
Earlier this year, the Court of Appeal's landmark decision on PR's assemblyman Nik
Nazmi that declared Section 9(5) of the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 as
unconstitutional, was said to be a "historic" judgment.
The provision that penalises organisers of peaceful assemblies with a fine of up to
RM10,000 if they fail to provide the requisite 10-day notice, was ruled as
unconstitutional.
The judgment had further made clear that under the PAA, the authorities concerned do
not have powers to declare any peaceful assembly as illegal or require their consent or
licence before assembling.
Besides that, prominent figures including politicians, lawyers and even a law lecturer
stood in the dock to face sedition charges in the courts.
Despite concern against using the sedition charges against political leaders, this year,
more people were charged with sedition, including those who have expressed their
opinions or views, in terms of the law.
Among them were the late Bukit Gelugor MP Karpal Singh, Universiti Malaya law
professor Azmi Sharom, MP Padang Serai and human rights lawyer N. Surendran and
MP Seputeh Teresa Kok, Batu MP Tian Chua, Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli, Penang state
assemblyman R. S. N Rayer and others.
Tian Chua was, however, acquitted by the sessions court last month to a charge of
making seditious remarks over the government and Umno involvement in the Lahad
Datu intrusion March last year.

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The others charged under the Sedition Act 1948 are awaiting trial.
Another landmark case that redefined the constitutional rights was the three Malaysian
transgender women, who won their bid to overturn an Islamic anti cross-dressing law in
Negri Sembilan.
Last month, a three-member appellate court panel ruled that a provision of southern
Negri Sembilan state that bars Muslim men from dressing as women was
unconstitutional, saying it "deprives the appellants of the right to live with dignity".
"It has the effect of denying the appellants and other sufferers of gender identify
disorder to move freely in public places. This is degrading, oppressive and inhumane,"
judge Hishamudin Yunus said.
This was well supported by human rights activists and lawyers in the country.
The prosecution is appealing the decision.
Gender discrimination was again highlighted in yet another landmark case where the
Shah Alam High Court awarded a woman RM300,000 in damages for breach of her
constitutional right to gender equality after the government refused to employ her as a
temporary teacher when she became pregnant.
The government was also ordered to pay 32-year-old Noorfadilla Ahmad Saikin
RM12,907.68 for loss of earnings, RM2,296.10 for loss of Employees Provident Fund,
RM912.71 for loss of EPF dividends, as well as RM25,000 for pain and suffering, and
RM5,000 in costs.
Meanwhile, a warrant of arrest was issued by a sessions court for Alvin Tan after he
jumped bail.
His RM20,000 bail was forfeited after he failed to return his passport on Aug 22, 2014.
Sex bloggers, Tan, 26, and Vivian Lee, 24, claimed trial to charges related to seditious
posting of Ramadan greetings on their Facebook page and pornographic pictures in
their blogs.
Source URL: http://www.thesundaily.my/news/1282521
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