Deputy Security Minister Mohamad Johari Baharum told AFP that the Herald should comply with the government order.
"We approved the permit. Now the weekly should comply with the government decision not to use the word Allah," he said.
Wonder why the permit did not mention such restrictions, but a Cabinet decision is needed, which was done BEFORE the permit being issued? IEither issuance of permit and cabinet decision is not govt decision? I'm sooo confused.
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Herald: Lawsuit on 'Allah' to proceed |
| Jan 4, 08 5:37pm |
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Catholic weekly Herald said it would press on with a lawsuit against the government in the wake of a cabinet ban on the use the word 'Allah' days after its printing permit was renewed. Deputy Security Minister Mohamad Johari Baharum told AFP that the Herald should comply with the government order. "We approved the permit. Now the weekly should comply with the government decision not to use the word Allah," he said. Authorities on Sunday allowed the Herald to continue to print, after earlier threatening to revoke its licence in a row over its use of the word 'Allah'. The publishers then assumed that they could use the word Allah, or God, which is used by church leaders when they deliver sermons in Malay or in the Malay language articles section of the 28-page newspaper. Editor Father Lawrence Andrew had earlier said the paper would still press ahead with its lawsuit filed last month to challenge the state order banning it from using the word Allah. "We will not withdraw the lawsuit," he said. Andrew also said that the newspaper used the word Allah in its first issue for 2008 dated Jan 6. Cabinet decision Abdullah Mohamad Zain, minister in the Prime Minister's Department said the cabinet at its meetings on Oct 18 and Nov 1 last year decided that the word Allah could only be used by Muslims to avoid confusion. Abdullah said non-Muslims should use the word God ('Tuhan' in Malay) instead, although the word Allah has been used in the Malay-language Bible for centuries. "The use of the word Allah by other religions may arouse sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims," he was quoted as saying by the Star newspaper today. Malaysian commentators have sounded alarm over the growing "Islamisation" of the country and the increasing polarisation of the three main ethnic communities, which mix much less than in the past. In recent weeks there have been controversies over the construction of the world's tallest Taoist Goddess of the Sea statue on Borneo island and destruction of Hindu temples by local authorities. The Herald, a tabloid-sized newspaper, is circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics with articles written in English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay. |