Malaysiakini.com（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
1. Herald gets show cause letter, 11 August 2008
by Soon Li Tsin
Catholic publication Herald has received a show cause letter from the Home Ministry for allegedly publishing articles that are political and degrading to Islam.
Editor of the Catholic weekly Father Lawrence Andrew said the letter stated that Herald’s publication is not in accordance with terms in the permit to publish religious news."I have replied them and pointed out that the permit application form did not stipulate what constitutes religious articles.
"We also asked them what is their concept of religion because this is not defined in the permit conditions or the constitution," he told Malaysiakini.
Andrew also denied that an article published on June 22 entitled, 'America and Jihad' had degraded Islam or any other religion.
"The article was an ethical analysis about the world after the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Centre towers," he justified.
Herald, which publishes news and information for Catholics in Malaysia in four languages - English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil - has a circulation of around 13,000 and a readership estimated at 50,000.
It is also currently embroiled in a civil suit against the internal security minister and the government over the order that banned the Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in the Bahasa Malaysia section of the publication late last year.
According to Andrew, Herald had received up to five letters so far since their permit was renewed in February and each one grows more serious than the other.
"First, it was a caution letter, then a reminder letter, then an advisory letter, followed by a warning letter and this one dated July 16 was a show cause letter," he explained.
"But the letter did not state any consequences or date to respond. It appears they are being very friendly and concerned about us," he said.
Focussed on Anwar
Meanwhile, another religious publication Catholic Asian News (CANews) was similarly told to stick to religious and not political news after receiving a letter from the ministry last month.
CANews editor Father OC Lim confirmed that they received such a letter and have sent a response to the ministry.
"We received a same-style letter to the Herald in July telling us to confine our articles to religion and not other aspects namely social and political issues.
"I’ve got a lawyer to draft a reply to the Home Ministry and we sent the letter two weeks ago. We will see what happens," he said.
The monthly publication of the Kuala Lumper archdiocese has a readership of 4,000 and is published in English.
Publications Control and Al-Quran Texts Unit senior officer Che Din Yusof when contacted confirmed that cautionary letters were sent to Herald but was unsure if any letters were sent to CANews.
"It is because what they did was contrary to the conditions in their permit. They are suppose to focus on religion but instead they focused on political issues on Anwar Ibrahim.
"We only sent a reminder, not a show cause letter. If they don’t comply with our reminder then we will send a show cause letter," he said.
He added that the ministry monitors these publications closely to make sure that they adhere to their respective permit conditions.
"We will see if they do it again. If they do, we will send another letter," he said.
2. Herald only keeping Catholics informed of their duty, 21 August 2008
by Martin Jalleh
I refer to the Malaysiakini report Herald gets show cause letter.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar believes it is his prerogative and position to preach to the Catholic community in Bolehland on what they should and should not believe in.
‘Religion and politics should not mix’– he pontificates. This is ludicrous especially coming from a minister whose political party’s interpretation of its own religion has politicised almost everything in Bolehland.
The home minister hops on the bandwagon of the horde of ‘little mullah napoleons’ (LMNs) in the country to dominate, dictate, decide and even define what non-Muslims can and cannot discuss, deliberate on, and display in print.
He joins the LMNs in his ministry in hounding The Herald. He says he was not aware of the instructions by his ministry to decide whether to suspend or revoke The Herald’s publication permit, yet he decides to threaten the publication.
An official in his ministry had said that The Herald may have its permit suspended if it goes ahead and publishes an editorial on the Permatang Pauh by-election, because an editorial on the by-election was a topic under current affairs and politics.
Yet, as was pointed out by The Herald’s editor Father Lawrence Andrew, the officer had not even seen the editorial. Yet he had the audacity to issue such a threat. And as it had turned out the editorial was only asking people to pray for a just and fair by-election.
So now it appears the LMNs even feel they have the right to tell adherents of faiths other than Muslim what they can or cannot pray for!
‘If you are to write on religion, then you are supposed to touch on matters pertaining to questions on rituals, adherence to God, followers and anything related to your divine mission.
‘If you go beyond that, definitely you have committed some breaches,’ so declared Syed Hamid when responding to questions from reporters on The Herald being given a show-cause letter and several warning letters for writing on politically-related issues and events.
In response to Syed Hamid’s hype the Catholic Lawyers’ Society of Kuala Lumpur homed in on the fact that ‘ultimately, the interpretation of what constitutes religious matters should be left to the leaders and adherents of the faith’.
In a recent press statement, its president Mabel Sabastian said that the reporting in The Herald was ‘in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church in social and political charity’.
Contrary to the narrow and naïve definition of religion by Syed Hamid, the Catholic Church teaches that her religion must go beyond the realm of rites, rubrics and rituals and be one that seeks to respond radically to her ‘divine mission’.
In fact, the Catholic Church has warned her adherents of having a religion that is ‘nothing more than the fulfillment of acts of worship and the observance of a few moral obligations’.
She calls the ‘compartmentalisation’ of faith (as dictated by Syed Hamid), ‘one of the gravest errors of our time’. She says that ‘the dichotomy between the faith which many profess and their day-to-day conduct’ is vehemently denounced in the Bible.
Catholics are taught not to view their faith as a purely private affair. It may be true that there are personal dimensions of faith but there are also social dimensions that require believers to live and take their faith into the public and political arena.
In sharp contrast to the narrow perspective of the home minister, the Catholic church also believes in carrying out its ‘divine mission’ in solidarity with others. It proclaims that ‘no matter our national, racial, ethnic, economic or ideological differences, we have a global commitment to love our neighbors and to work for justice.’
‘We also have a commitment to work towards a just, even and fair development of our world, where no one society is exalted materially above the rest, and no other society is left, quite literally, in the dust. Development must respect the rights of all nations and their people, always promoting the moral, cultural and spiritual dimensions of each person.’
As an organ of the Catholic Church in Malaysia it is The Herald’s responsibility and even sacred duty to keep Catholics informed and involved in playing an active role as citizens of this country – and this logically includes the political sphere too.
The ignorance displayed by Syed Hamid is so reminiscent of what the prime minister had warned us of when he opened the ‘International Conference on Religion in The Quest for Global Justice and Peace’ in July this year.
Pak Lah had stressed that there is ‘the need to amplify the role of the media in promoting a universal and inclusive dimension of religion that focused upon justice and peace’. Will this point by the PM hit home, Mr Home Minister?
Perhaps there is no better statement by the PM himself that exonerates The Herald, affirms what it has been doing, and spurs the publication on to continue to translate into reality its ‘divine mission’ than the following:
‘Journalists and media practitioners in general should deepen and broaden their understanding of religion, in order to play a more effective role in advancing the universal values of justice, peace and compassion which lie at the heart of our great religious philosophies.’
Come this August 31, may we be able to truly celebrate our freedom from all religious narrow-mindedness. May God grant to the adherents of each faith, the wisdom, will and way to live out fully their divine mission for the good of all. Merdeka!
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