１. Reuters （http://asia.news.yahoo.com）
Malaysia says Catholic paper can't use word "Allah" 4 January 2008
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia has ruled that a Catholic newspaper cannot use the word Allah, clarifying reports it had reversed an earlier ban on the use of the word by non-Muslims.
The move deepens fears the government is trying too hard to please the more extremist sections of its Muslim majority at the expense of other religions.
Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of Kuala Lumpur-based "Herald - the Catholic Weekly" was reported this week as saying the government had renewed its publishing permit, without restrictions, after earlier ruling that non-Muslims are forbidden from using the word Allah. But Abdullah Md Zin, a minister for religious affairs, said on Friday the ban on the use of the word remained despite the renewal of the permit. "It was just the priest's interpretation that there was no restriction on the use of the word," Abdullah told Reuters.
This is the latest in a series of disputes that is feeding fears of a gradual erosion of the rights of non-Muslims. Politically dominant ethnic Malay Muslims form about 60 percent of the population of roughly 26 million, while the ethnic Indian and Chinese minorities include Hindus, Buddhists and Christians.
２. Inquirer.net. Agence France-Presse （http://newsinfo.inquirer.net:80）
Malaysia orders Catholic paper not to use word 'Allah' , 4 January 2008
KUALA LUMPUR--Malaysian authorities on Friday reminded a Catholic paper not to use the word "Allah" after its printing permit was renewed but the editor said it would press a lawsuit over the ban.
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 license 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 told AFP Friday that 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 January 6.
Abdullah Mohamad Zain, minister in the prime minister's department said the Cabinet at its meetings on October 18 and November 1 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 Friday.
Malaysian commentators have sounded alarm over the growing "Islamization" of the country and the increasing polarization 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. Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
The Herald, a tabloid-sized newspaper, is circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics with articles written in English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay. About 60 percent of the nation's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims who dominate the country's politics. The rest are mostly Buddhist, Hindu or Christian Chinese and Indians.
©Copyright 2001-2008 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company
３．The New York Times （http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com）
Allah by Any Other Name, 4 January 2008
by Patrick J. Lyons
Here’s a headline to get the little gray cells puzzling: The Malaysian government has “reminded” — that is, ordered — a Catholic newspaper published in the country not to use the word Allah.
Why not? “To avoid confusion.” See if you think it succeeded.
Malaysia’s population is mostly Malay and mostly Muslim, but the country has sizable (and somewhat overlapping) ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities, including about 900,000 Catholics (4 percent of the total population). Tensions and resentments between Malays and other groups — usually the country’s ethnic Chinese, who play a large role in its economy — have been a dominant theme in its politics.
One more important fact to know: In Malaysia, you need a government permit to publish a newspaper, even a little 12,000-copy tabloid like The Herald, which prints 28 pages of Catholic-themed news and features in four languages: Malay, English, Tamil and Chinese.
As you can imagine, a Catholic newspaper often has occasion to refer to God, which would appear to pose no problem in three of those languages. In Malay, however, it has long been the practice for Christians to use the same name for the deity that Muslims do: Allah. And that has to stop, the government has decreed.
After seeming to renew The Herald’s permit without conditions last Sunday, it told the paper today that the warnings it issued late last year to switch to using another Malay word ( “Tuhan”) still stood, and that “Allah” was henceforth reserved strictly for the Muslim deity.
Hold the phone.
First of all, aren’t the Judeo-Christian and Muslim deities one and the same, even if worshiped in very different ways? That seems to be the near-universal opinion; Muslims the world over refer to Allah as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And “Allah” — that’s originally an Arabic word, one that even predates the foundation of Islam. Christians in Arabic-speaking countries use “Allah” for their God all the time, and nobody seems befuddled. While we’re at it, Islamic tradition and a well-known saying of Muhammad’s assert that God has 99 names, not just one (though there are conflicting lists of the official 99).
And yet, Agence France-Presse reports that Abdullah Mohamad Zain, a Malaysian government minister, was quoted in Friday editions of The Star, a Malaysian paper, saying “The use of the word Allah by other religions may arouse sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims.”
The Herald’s editors say they will fight the “reminder” in court. Meanwhile, The Lede will try to disconfuse itself by puling (sic) out its well-thumbed Arthur C. Clarke anthology and rereading “The Nine Billion Names of God.”
４．Guardian（http://www.guardian.co.uk）
Malaysia Maintains Limited 'Allah' Ban, 4 January 2008
by Sean Yoong
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — The Malaysian government has reiterated that non-Muslims cannot use the word "Allah," sparking concern Friday among Christians who use it to refer to God in their Malay-language Bible and other publications.
Abdullah Zin, the de facto minister for Islamic affairs, told reporters Thursday that the Cabinet is of the view that "Allah" refers to the Muslim God and can only be used by Muslims, who comprise about 60 percent of Malaysia's population.
"The use of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims may arouse sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims in the country," Abdullah said.
His statement is the latest twist in a long-drawn controversy involving The Herald, a weekly organ of Malaysia's Catholic Church. It was told by the Internal Security Ministry last month that its Malay-language section would be banned unless it stops using "Allah" as a synonym for God.
But the paper was surprised when the ministry made an apparent about-turn last weekend by renewing its annual permit — a government requirement for all publications in Malaysia — without imposing any conditions. The paper assumed it was a tacit approval for the use of "Allah."
Abdullah's comments Thursday, however, threw the issue into fresh confusion, and will likely renew complaints by ethnic minorities that their rights are increasingly undermined because of government efforts to bolster the status of Islam, Malaysia's official religion.
The Herald' s editor, Rev. Lawrence Andrew, said its latest issue on Wednesday still uses "Allah," but he could not say whether upcoming editions would omit the word. "We will have to discuss how to go about this with our lawyers and publishers," Andrew told The Associated Press.
Andrew reiterated the paper's stance that Malay-speaking Christians have long used the word, which has roots in Arabic and predates Islam.
"The newspaper does use Allah in quotes from the (Malay-language) Bible. Nobody can tell us that we cannot quote from the Bible. That would be a gross violation of our rights," he said. He declined to comment further, noting the paper has initiated court action to get a legal endorsement for what it says is its Constitutional right to use "Allah."
The Herald, which has a circulation of 12,000 copies, publishes reports in four languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — for the country's 900,000 Catholics.
A church in Sabah state in eastern Malaysia has separately also sued the government for preventing it from using the word "Allah" in its Malay-language literature. The church says the ban violates the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution.
Religious issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, which prides itself on multiracial harmony. Ethnic Chinese, who are Christians and Buddhists, account for a quarter of the population, while mostly Hindu Indians are less than 10 percent.
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
５．“Compass Direct News” Santa Ana, CA, USA.（http://compassdirect.org）
MALAYSIA: AUTHORITIES TRY TO CURB CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS USING ‘ALLAH’ , 3 January 2008
Use of word leads to threats to close Catholic newspaper, prohibition of imported books.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, January 3 (Compass Direct News) – A Catholic newspaper and an evangelical church have brought lawsuits against the government after authorities ruled against use of the word “Allah” in Christian publications.
The government had threatened the Herald, a 13-year-old Catholic weekly, with closure. At the same time, the Evangelical Church of Borneo (Sidang Injil Borneo, or SIB) has challenged a government decision to prohibit importation of Christian educational materials for children containing the word “Allah.” Authorities withheld two other titles the church was trying to import.
Following protests by the Christian community, the Herald’s printing permit was renewed just two days prior to expiration. A court hearing on SIB’s imported books case scheduled for December 27 was postponed until January 16 pending efforts by several outside parties to resolve the matter.
The Herald on December 27 released a statement that it had filed suit against the government on December 5 for prohibiting it from using the word “Allah.” The weekly said that the Internal Security Ministry, headed by Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, had issued a series of directives in earlier months to the publisher that it must cease using “Allah” to refer to God or else its printing permit would be either suspended or revoked.
On December 17, the weekly received a letter from the Internal Security Ministry stating that it had to abolish its Malay segment (in which the word “Allah” is used) in order to renew its printing permit for 2008. Under the Printing Presses and Publications Act, the Internal Security Minister has absolute power to grant, suspend or revoke a publishing permit.
The Herald publishes in four different languages – English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil – for the sake of its multiracial and multilingual congregations. The Malay segment caters to indigenous East Malaysian Catholics who do not speak English, Mandarin or Tamil. Asked about the rationale for the ministry’s directive, Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum has said the word “Allah” can only be used in the context of Islam. “We cannot let other religions use it because it will confuse people,” he said.
SIB, the largest denomination in East Malaysia, is challenging the government’s decision to prohibit it from importing four titles of Christian educational materials for children and to withhold two other titles containing the word “Allah.” The consignment of materials was seized by a customs officer upon arrival at the low-cost carrier terminal in Sepang on August 15, 2007. In its lawsuit, SIB argues that Christian use of “Allah” predates Islam, as the word is used for God in the old as well as modern Arabic Bibles.
Debate over use of “Allah” in non-Islamic contexts has been hotly debated in the media since the two lawsuits came to light.
Dr. Firdaus Abdullah, director-general of the government body entrusted with taking care of national language matters, or Dewan Bahasa and Pustaka, has argued that the government acted rightly in forbidding the use of the word by non-Muslims in referring to God. “If you look at the word ‘Allah,’ you will find it has been used for years exclusively referring to the Islamic notion (of God),” Dr. Firdaus told The Sun in a December 31 article. The publisher of the Herald maintained that the newspaper had the right to use the word.
Supporters of the publishers note that Christians in Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq, Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei – and other places in Asia and Africa where local languages come in contact with Arabic – still use “Allah” to refer to God.
Dr. Ng Kam Weng, research director of Kairos Research Centre, argues that historically, Christians in Southeast Asia have long used “Allah” to refer to the God they worship. This is evidenced by some of the earliest Christian writing in Malay: Kitab salat as-sawai (Christian prayers), printed in 1514, as well as in the version of Matthew’s Gospel in Malay (1629) and the complete Malay Bible (1731-1733).
Moreover, Bernard Dompok, a minister in the prime minister’s department and a Christian, criticized the Internal Security Ministry for acting inconsistently with the government’s effort to promote use of the Malay language, which also happens to be Malaysia’s national language. Father Lawrence Andrew, the Herald’s editor, declined to comment on whether the newspaper would withdraw its lawsuit now that it has secured a printing permit for 2008 without restrictions.
END Copyright © 2008 Compass Direct（No material on this site may be reprinted or redistributed without special, written permission from Compass Direct）
６．International Herald Tribune （http://www.iht.com）
Malaysia backpedals on Allah ban for Christian paper, renews its permit , 31 December 2007
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A Roman Catholic newspaper said Monday the government has reversed its decision to ban the publication over its use of the word "Allah," easing a row that strained racial harmony in the multiethnic country.
In a surprising about-turn over the weekend, the government renewed The Herald weekly's 2008 permit without any conditions, said its editor Rev. Lawrence Andrew. "There are no conditions, there was no mention of the Allah ban," he told The Associated Press.
Internal security officials declined to comment when contacted.
The ministry had repeatedly warned The Herald that its printing permit may be revoked if it continued to use "Allah" as a synonym for God in its Malay-language section. After The Herald refused, it was told in early December that its Malay-language section would be banned from January. All publications in Malaysia require a government permit, which is renewed annually. The government said "Allah" refers to the Muslim God and can only be used by Muslims.
Allah, an Arabic word, means God in Bahasa Melayu also, the language of Malays who are Muslims and form 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people. Officials feared that using the word Allah in Christian literature would confuse the Malays and draw them to Christianity.
Malaysian Christians have argued that Allah is an Arabic word that was used by Christians before Islam. Even in Malaysia, Malay-speaking Christians have used the word Allah for generations.
"You can't deny a people the use of its language," said Andrew, adding that the community is grateful the ban was not imposed. "It was certainly a good thing for the country as a whole that we can accept one another. We need to be moderate and have tolerance."
The Herald, which has a circulation of 12,000 copies, publishes reports in four languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — for the country's 900,000 Catholics. The Herald will, however, pursue its court action to get a legal endorsement for what it says is its Constitutional right to use "Allah," Andrew said.
A church in Sabah state in eastern Malaysia has also sued the government for preventing it from using the word "Allah" in its Malay-language literature. The church has not received any notification that they can use the literature and they say the ban violates the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution.
Religion issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, where minorities often complain that their rights are trampled upon by overzealous Muslim bureaucrats with Islamic leanings. They accuse the government of not doing enough to prevent this, and of tacitly taking part in the alleged discrimination. The minorities are mostly ethnic Chinese, who follow Christianity and Buddhism and account for 25 percent of the population, followed by ethnic Indians who are mostly Hindus and are 10 percent.
Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune
７．CNN.com.International (http://edition.cnn.com)
Malaysia reverses Allah ban for Christian paper, 30 December 2007
Malaysian government reverses decision to ban newspaper for using the word 'Allah'. The Herald weekly's 2008 permit renewed without any conditions. The Catholic paper told in December its Malay-language section would be banned.
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- The Malaysian government has reversed its decision to ban a Catholic newspaper for using the word "Allah," officials said Monday, easing a row that could strain racial harmony in the multiethnic country. In a surprising about-turn over the weekend, the government renewed The Herald weekly's 2008 permit without any conditions, said its editor Rev. Lawrence Andrew. "There are no conditions, there was no mention of the Allah ban," he told The Associated Press. Internal security officials declined to comment when contacted. The ministry had repeatedly warned The Herald that its printing permit may be revoked if it continued to use "Allah" as a synonym for God in its Malay-language section. After the Herald refused, it was told in early December that its Malay-language section would be banned from January.
８．The Straits Times (Singapore) (http://www.straitstimes.com)
M'sian Catholic paper gets new permit: church leader , 30 December 2007
KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA authorities are to allow a Catholic paper to continue to print, after earlier threatening to revoke its licence in a row over the word 'Allah', a church leader said on Sunday.
Augustine Julian, secretary of the Catholic Bishops' Conference, told AFP a new licence had been granted to the weekly, which would continue to use the term.
'The letter to allow The Herald to be printed was hand delivered by internal security officials Sunday,' he said. 'They have allowed us to publish the weekly as usual. All four sections - in English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese - will be published. I suppose if they give us the printing permit we can continue to use the word Allah,' he added.
Mr Julian said no reasons were given for the extension but suggested the government would not want to alienate Malaysia's two million Christians ahead of general elections.
The Herald, a tabloid-sized newspaper, is circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics with articles written in English, Chinese, Tamil and Malay. A junior minister had earlier warned its printing permit, due to expire on Monday, would not be renewed if it continued using the Malay word for 'Allah', which the government says can only be used by Muslims.
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. Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in 1969.
The publisher of The Herald and a church group in Sabah state on Borneo island have filed a legal suit against the government for banning them from using the word Allah. -- AFP
９．BBC News （http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/asia-pacific/7163391.stm）
Malaysian row over word for 'God' , 28 December 2007
A church and Christian newspaper in Malaysia are suing the government after it decreed that the word "Allah" can only be used by Muslims.
In the Malay language "Allah" is used to mean any god, and Christians say they have used the term for centuries.
Opponents of the ban say it is unconstitutional and unreasonable. It is the latest in a series of religious rows in largely Muslim Malaysia, where minority groups claim their rights are being eroded. A spokesman for the Herald, the newspaper of the Catholic Church in Malaysia, said a legal suit was filed after they received repeated official warnings that the newspaper could have its licence revoked if it continued to use the word. "We are of the view that we have the right to use the word 'Allah'," said editor Rev Lawrence Andrew.
The Sabah Evangelical Church of Borneo has also taken legal action after a government ministry moved to ban the import of religious children's books containing the word. In a statement given to Reuters news agency, the church said the translation of the bible in which the word Allah appears has been used by Christians since the earliest days of the church.
There has been no official government comment but parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said the decision to ban the word for non-Muslims on security grounds was "unlawful". "The term 'Allah' was used to refer to God by Arabic-speaking Christians before Arabic-speaking Muslims existed," he said.
Religious issues are highly sensitive in Malaysia, which has a 60% Muslim population. Religious freedom is guaranteed in the law but minority groups have accused the Muslim Malay majority of trying to increase the role of Islam in the country.
１０．Reuters（http://africa.reuters.com:80）
Malaysia faces Christian outcry over word "Allah", 28 December 2007
reported by Jalil Hamid; edited by David Fogarty
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - A Malaysian Catholic newspaper and church groups cried foul on Friday over a government move to forbid non-Muslims from using the word Allah.
The row could further strain race and religious relations in the country, where many non-Muslims believe their rights are being trampled by the Muslim majority. The dispute came out in the open after Malaysia's internal security ministry ruled recently the term Allah -- long used by Christians in Malaysia to refer to God -- could no longer be used by non-Muslims.
"Malaysia is probably the only nation where the term Allah by Christians to refer to God is prohibited," parliamentary opposition leader Lim Kit Siang said in a statement, adding that the term was never banned even in the Middle East. "The term Allah was used to refer to God by Arabic-speaking Christians before Arabic-speaking Muslims existed," he said.
The government clampdown could force Kuala Lumpur-based "Herald - the Catholic Weekly" newspaper to lose its publishing permit if it failed to drop the word Allah in its publication, the publisher said. The publisher, the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, said on Thursday it had filed a lawsuit challenging the state order. "We are of the view that we have the right to use the word Allah which right is now sought to be curtailed," his office said in a statement. "We have decided to have our legal position to use the word to be determined by the courts."
Politically dominant ethnic Malay Muslims form about 60 percent of the population of roughly 26 million, while the ethnic Indian and Chinese minorities include Hindus, Buddhists and Christians. Political analysts say the ruling is an extension of the Malay Muslim supremacy taking firmer root in Malaysia. "The Malays want to make Islam exclusive to Muslims," said one analyst.
Separately, another church group, the Evangelical Church of Borneo in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, has filed a suit against the ministry's move to stop it from importing Christian books which contain the word Allah. "From the earliest days of the church, the Malay-speaking congregation of the Church have been freely using the Alkitab, the Bahasa Indonesia translation of the Holy Bible wherein the word Allah appears," it said in the suit. "The Christian usage of the word Allah predates Islam," it added.
A spokesman for Deputy Internal Security Minister Johari Baharum said he could not comment because the cases were before the courts.
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
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