22.12.2007

Catholic weekly in quandary over permit
© Malaysiakini.com (Used by permission)

The organ of the Catholic Church, Herald is facing problems in renewing its yearly publishing permit allegedly over the use of the word ‘Allah’ in the weekly’s Bahasa Malaysia section.

According to Church sources, the government is not happy with the use of the word ‘Allah’ by the weekly when referring to ‘God’ in Bahasa Malaysia.

The use of ‘Allah’ outside of Islam has previously stirred controversies in Malaysia. Four years ago, the Bible in Iban language was banned because it translated the word ‘God’ as Allah Taala, which resembles Islam’s name for God, ‘Allah’.

The ban was however lifted after protests from the Christian community.

The Herald, which is published in four languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil - has a circulation of 12,000. The weekly’s permit is due to expire in two weeks.

The Herald - which publishes news and information for Catholics in Malaysia - have previously received written warnings pertaining to the content of their articles primarily those which touch on religious and political issues.

Most recently, the Herald frontpaged both the Bersih and Hindraf rally which saw tens of thousands protesters hitting the streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Remove BM section

Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in a statement yesterday said the Home Ministry has imposed a new condition for the renewal of the Herald’s publication permit - that the BM section of the weekly be removed altogether.

This is confirmed by sources close to the Catholic weekly.

Lim has described Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s administration as one which has promoted religious polarisation the most as compared to four previous prime ministers.

Examples that the DAP veteran included are the demolition of the Sri Maha Mariaman Temple in Kampung Rimba Jaya in Shah Alam one week before Deepavali.

“This was followed by the disrespect and insensitivity when the Umno General Assembly was held on Deepavali – imagine the protest and outrage if the MCA or MIC had held their general assemblies during the Hari Raya holidays,” he said.
 

In addition, during the party assembly, Umno Youth deputy chief and prime minister’s son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin blamed the Indian news vendors for taking a holiday during Deepavali which resulted in Abdullah’s speech as Umno president not being prominently reported by the media.

Lim also noted the incident when two Umno parliamentarians - Syed Hood Syed Edros (BN-Parit Sulong) and Mohamad Aziz (BN-Sri Gading) demanded the removal of the cross and demolition of Christian statues in mission schools.

“The PM must take urgent measures to arrest the worsening of inter-religious relations in the country and halt the growing number of incidents of disrespect and insensitivity felt by non-Muslim Malaysian,” he added.

No need for non-Muslim affairs dept

Meanwhile, Abdullah yesterday said it was not necessary to set up a non-muslim affairs department because an effective special committee is already in place.

He said this after Indian non-governmental organisations requested the government to set up the department to He said this after Indian non-governmental organisations requested the government to set up the department to handle the affairs of non-Muslims in the country.

The premier explained that the existing committee in the PM's Department comprised of Minister in the PM's Department Bernard Dompok (handling Christian matters), Works Minister S Samy Vellu (Hindu) and Housing and Local Government Minister Ong Ka Ting (Buddhism).

Abdullah also said that the National Unity Department has a similar committee with a minister (Dr Maximus Ongkili) entrusted with matters pertaining to solidarity, religions and beliefs.

Church leaders explain use of 'Allah'
©The Sun (Used by permission)
by Joseph Masilamany

PETALING JAYA (Dec 23, 2007): The use of the word “Allah” to refer to God among Christians has been widely practised for generations in many countries and it is not meant to offend or confuse the Muslims, Christian leaders said on Sunday.

Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of local Catholic weekly The Herald, told theSun that its Bahasa Malaysia segment catered to the many Bahasa Malaysia-speaking Catholics in the country.

“The newspaper is only circulated among Catholics and not sold at newsstands and neither is the paper issued to Muslims,” he stressed.

He said The Herald was informed by the Internal Security Ministry in a letter dated Dec 10 to stop its Bahasa Malaysia segment.

He added that the letter said this would be so when the publication permit is granted.

The annual permit expires on Dec 31 and the publication has yet to receive the renewed permit.

Lawrence said the term “Allah” used by Christians or in Christian literature was not intended to offend Muslims or create confusion.

We follow the Bible, he said. “The Malay-language Bible uses ‘Allah’ for God and Tuhan for Lord.”

He said since the early 19th century, Catholics in Malaya had prayer books in the Malay language and “Allah” was used to refer to God.

The Maltese Catholics also use the term “Allah” to refer to God and so do Christians in Indonesia, Pakistan and the Middle East.

There are more than 850,000 Catholics in Malaysia, and The Herald has a circulation of 12,000 and a readership of 50,000.

Other than the English segment, it also has sections in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil to cater to the multi-racial and multi-lingual make-up of the Malaysian Catholic population.

Hence it is common for some Catholic religious celebrations to be conducted in Bahasa Malaysia during the Sunday worship, and even on special national occasions such as Merdeka Day.

Lawrence said the ministry had no right to interfere in the internal management of the church, in accordance with the Federal Constitution.

Quoting Article 11 (3) A, he said the constitution allowed every religious group to manage its own affairs.

He said the ministry’s decision to abolish The Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia segment was unconstitutional and had no legal standing.

The weekly is still in talks with the authorities to renew its permit, and would appeal if the government refuses to issue the permit.

The general-secretary of the Council of Churches Malaysia Rev Herman Shastri told theSun each religious community was endowed with the right to translate its respective holy scriptures.

“Christians living in Muslim-majority countries are using the term ‘Allah’ in reference to God during their liturgical celebrations. Even if the authorities disallow the use of certain words, the churches will continue to use them because it has to do with our sacred scriptures,” he said.

Herald sues govt for prohibiting use of word 'Allah'
©The Sun (Used by permission)
Pauline Puah

PETALING JAYA (Dec 27, 2007): Catholic weekly "Herald" has filed a suit against the government for prohibiting it from using the word “Allah” in the local publication.

Herald’s publisher, in a statement today, said the Internal Security Ministry had issued a series of directives for the publication to cease the use of the word "Allah", failing which the publication’s permit could either be suspended or revoked.

Under the Printing Presses and Publications Act (PPPA), the Internal Security Minister has absolute powers to grant, suspend or revoke a publishing permit.

“We have the right to use the word ‘Allah’ which right now is being curtailed,” the statement said.

The statement added that the publisher wanted the courts to decide on the publisher’s legal position to use the word.

“Pursuant to this, we have filed in the Kuala Lumpur High Court a writ of summons and a statement of claim to seek appropriate directives in support of our rights,” the statement said.

Contacted later, Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of Herald, said the suit was filed on Dec 5.

However, he declined to divulge more information.

Herald has a circulation of 12,000 and a readership of 50,000.

Other than the English segment, it also has sections in Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil to cater to the multi-racial and multi-lingual make-up of the more than 850,000 Malaysian Catholics.

In a Dec 10 letter, Herald was also informed by the ministry to stop its Bahasa Malaysia segment but no reason was given for the directive.

However, Andrew said, the suit was not related to this directive.

Herald’s annual permit expires on Monday (Dec 31) and the publication has yet to receive a fresh permit, as required under the PPPA.

Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Johari Baharum was quoted recently as saying that to prevent confusion, the word “Allah” could only be used in the context of Islam and not any other religions.

“Only Muslims can use ‘Allah’. It’s a Muslim word, you see. It’s from (the Arabic (language),” he said in a Malaysiakini interview last week (Dec 21).

“The word ‘Allah’ is published by the Catholics. It’s not right,” he was quoted as saying.

However, scholars say the word predates Islam and was used by Christians long before the birth of Islam.