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Benedict108
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BY SIMON ROUGHNEEN
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
February 15-21, 2009 Issue | Posted 2/6/09 at 8:02 AM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — It seems that anyone in Malaysia can refer to God as Allah — as long as you are Muslim.
The Herald, a Church-run weekly newspaper in the capital of Kuala Lumpur, was warned by the government at the start of 2009 that it must stop using Allah when referring to God in its Malay-language edition or risk closure.
However, in its Jan. 24 edition, the Catholic newspaper did just that. The newspaper filed a motion with the country’s High Court and feels no compunction to follow the government’s directive prior to a court ruling
Jesuit Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of The Herald, said, “Leave it to the High Court to decide what it has been asked to do. The government has no jurisdiction on imposing their prohibition on us while the case is still pending in the court.”
Father Lawrence said the word Allah, which predates the formation of Islam, is an Arabic term for God and that the problems raised by the proscription might go beyond merely publishing a Malay edition of the newspaper.
“The word Allah is used in our Eucharistic prayers, other devotional prayers and literature, and also in the Bible,” he said.
Arabic religious terms came to Malaysia around the same time as Islamic traders brought the Muslim religion with them to southeast Asia in the 13th century. A little more than 60% of the Southeast Asian country is Muslim.
Malaysia’s Home Ministry had initially ordered The Herald to stop printing its Malay edition for violating a 2007 ban on the use of the word Allah, except to refer to the Muslim God. The government said using the word could confuse Muslims, even though the newspaper is read almost exclusively by Christians.
“If they stop printing the word Allah, they can publish anytime,” official Che Din told The Associated Press last month. “You can use another word. It’s permissible for us.”
Father Lawrence said, however, that the state had told The Herald the use of the term constituted a threat to national security.
“Since 2006 we have been receiving a second wave of reminders and warning letters to the fact that we have been violating certain regulations that pertain to the security of the nation. In other words, we are posing as a threat to the security to the nation,” he said.
The ruling came after a tumultuous couple of years in Malaysian politics and society. The country has in the past prided itself on having a pluralistic, multi-religious society, with good interfaith relations between Muslims, minority Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.
Full text at: ncregister.com/site/article/17266
REGISTER CORRESPONDENT
February 15-21, 2009 Issue | Posted 2/6/09 at 8:02 AM
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — It seems that anyone in Malaysia can refer to God as Allah — as long as you are Muslim.
The Herald, a Church-run weekly newspaper in the capital of Kuala Lumpur, was warned by the government at the start of 2009 that it must stop using Allah when referring to God in its Malay-language edition or risk closure.
However, in its Jan. 24 edition, the Catholic newspaper did just that. The newspaper filed a motion with the country’s High Court and feels no compunction to follow the government’s directive prior to a court ruling
Jesuit Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of The Herald, said, “Leave it to the High Court to decide what it has been asked to do. The government has no jurisdiction on imposing their prohibition on us while the case is still pending in the court.”
Father Lawrence said the word Allah, which predates the formation of Islam, is an Arabic term for God and that the problems raised by the proscription might go beyond merely publishing a Malay edition of the newspaper.
“The word Allah is used in our Eucharistic prayers, other devotional prayers and literature, and also in the Bible,” he said.
Arabic religious terms came to Malaysia around the same time as Islamic traders brought the Muslim religion with them to southeast Asia in the 13th century. A little more than 60% of the Southeast Asian country is Muslim.
Malaysia’s Home Ministry had initially ordered The Herald to stop printing its Malay edition for violating a 2007 ban on the use of the word Allah, except to refer to the Muslim God. The government said using the word could confuse Muslims, even though the newspaper is read almost exclusively by Christians.
“If they stop printing the word Allah, they can publish anytime,” official Che Din told The Associated Press last month. “You can use another word. It’s permissible for us.”
Father Lawrence said, however, that the state had told The Herald the use of the term constituted a threat to national security.
“Since 2006 we have been receiving a second wave of reminders and warning letters to the fact that we have been violating certain regulations that pertain to the security of the nation. In other words, we are posing as a threat to the security to the nation,” he said.
The ruling came after a tumultuous couple of years in Malaysian politics and society. The country has in the past prided itself on having a pluralistic, multi-religious society, with good interfaith relations between Muslims, minority Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.
Full text at: ncregister.com/site/article/17266