1. Javno (http://www.javno.com)
Malaysia Stops Catholic Paper Printing In Malay , 31 December 2008
Malaysian publishers are required to apply to renew printing permits annually under the country's printing law.
Malaysia has renewed the printing permit of a Catholic newspaper but said it cannot publish its Malay-language section amid a dispute over its use of the word "Allah" to describe the Christian god, the paper said on Wednesday.
The "Herald -- the Catholic Weekly", which has a circulation of 14,000, received the faxed approval of the government late on Tuesday, a day before its permit was due to expire, its editor, Father Lawrence Andrew, told Reuters by telephone.
Malaysian publishers are required to apply to renew printing permits annually under the country's printing law.
"They have given us a conditional permit. They have said that we cannot print the Malay section until the court case is resolved in the High Court," he said, referring to the legal challenge the paper filed a year ago against an order banning it from using the word "Allah" as a synonym for God.
The paper was told in July that its licence was being reviewed as its use of the word Allah could inflame the Asian country's majority Muslim population.
The Herald also has English, Mandarin and Tamil language versions, but it was its Malay language version that especially irked the government.
Published since 1980, it prints in Malay to cater for tribal communities in the states of Sabah and Sarawak on Borneo Island, many of whom converted to Christianity long ago.
The newspaper may appeal against the conditional approval, said Father Lawrence.
"We are definitely not happy with the decision. We can't deprive those who speak Malay only of the newspaper," he said.
The Malaysian government in 2007 banned the use of the word "Allah" in a non-Muslim context.
Almost 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are Malay and Muslim; while Christians -- including about 800,000 Catholics -- make up about 9.1 percent of the population.
2. Malaysiakini.com（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
BM in danger, unless..., 30 December 2008
by Lam Weng Han
- The teaching of BM (Bahasa Malaysia) is made interesting, not demanding and punishing.
- Students are exposed to BM literary works, the great ones from Malaysia and Indonesia.
- BM is merged with Indonesian, which is way more advanced in its development.
- Native speakers of BM are exposed to their fast-dying culture, arts and heritage, even if it means Indonesia teaching ‘its culture’ to relatively barren Malaysia.
- People already fluent in English should make a good effort to speak BM decently.
- People already fluent in English should not see BM as a village language and should understand that BM was the lingua franca of the Asia-Pacific for time immemorial, and should therefore make a concerted effort to strengthen it in areas where it can thrive.
Note:
- All the above does not mean the teaching of Maths and Science in English should end.
- Malaysians must do their utmost to be the best in English because English is the language of the world.
- Malaysians should also strive to be good in Chinese (Mandarin) because China will soon be the king of the world, as prophesised by Lee Kuan Yew. Furthermore, Malaysia was part of China and Chinese domination of the world is destiny.
- But mastering English and Chinese does not mean and should never mean relegating BM to the back seat.
Those who are good in English and Chinese or both should make a serious effort to speak and write BM decently, and sell it to the world as the Asia-Pacific's most important linguistic heritage.
（End）
