Malaysiakini.com (http://www.malaysiakini.com/)
‘Catholic weekly in quandary over permit’ 20 December 2007
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 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.
“Lim Kit Siang for Malaysia” (http://blog.limkitsiang.com/)
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Religious polarisation most serious in 4 yrs under Abdullah as compared to four previous Prime Ministers
“PM: Religious festivals unite all Malaysians” is the New Straits Times headline today for Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s statement yesterday at an Aidiladha ceremony, where he said:
“Malaysia can pride itself in knowing that regardless of what religious celebration it may be, its ethnic groups will come together as one to honour the event.”
This was very true in the early decades of our nationhood, but it has become less and less true as increasing religious polarization in the country is undermining and even threatening national unity. In fact, it is no exaggeration to say that religious polarization is most serious in the past four years under Abdullah as Prime Minister as compared to the four former Prime Ministers – Tunku Abdul Rahman, Tun Razak, Tun Hussein Onn and Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad.It is most unfortunate that in recent years, there have been mounting instances of disrespect and insensitivity of those in power and authority for the rights and sensitivities of non-Muslim Malaysians.
The most serious example were the recent triple insensitivities during this year’s Deepavali – the Festival of Light celebrated by Hindus.
Firstly, there was the insensitive and sacrilegious demolition of the 40-year-old Sri Maha Mariaman Temple in Kampung Rimba Jaya in Shah Alam when Deepavali was just a week away.
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.
But there was a third strike – when Umno Deputy Youth Leader and the Prime Minister’s son-in-law, Khairy Jamaluddin went on a rampage against the Indian community at the Umno General Assembly, telecast on RTM, blaming the Indian news vendors for taking a national press holiday during Deepavali and blacking Abdullah’s speech as Umno President the next day.
The outrage by the Indian community at these triple disrespect and insensitivities were a major cause for 30,000 Indians from all over the country gathering in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 25 in support of the Hindraf demonstration – not to create unrest but to send their cry of despair at their marginalization to the government of the day!
Such insensitivity and disrespect could also be seen In Parliament, as in the shocking incident where two Umno MPs demanded the removal of the cross and demolition of Christian statues in mission schools.
Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM) is starting its new semester on Dec. 24, which is Christmas Eve - another example of decreasing respect and sensitivity from those in authority for different religious rights and practices, or the UPM would have fixed its semester opening a few days later.The Prime Minister 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 Malaysians about their rights and religious practices by those in power and authority.
I have just received this SMS on another incident, viz: “HERALD the weekly paper of the Catholic Church facing problem in renewing permit. Told not to have Bahasa section as condition for approval. All these years they had four sections – languages. BM to reach East Malaysians and youths educated in BM.”
The Prime Minister should immediately address these obstacles to greater national unity, so that Malaysia can revert to the previous position where religious polarization was a serious problem in nation-building so that religious festivals can continue to be an occasion to unite all Malaysians rather than divide them.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 19th, 2007. 83 Responses to “Religious polarisation most serious in 4 yrs under Abdullah as compared to four previous Prime Ministers”
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