1. Daily Express (http://www.dailyexpress.com.my)
Church paper can print in Malay but cannot use word, 9 January 2009
Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia has withdrawn a ban on a Catholic newspaper's Malay-language edition imposed in a row over the use of the word "Allah", an official said Thursday.
The decision was made after the Herald weekly threatened to sue the Government, the Home Ministry's publications control unit secretary Che Din Yusof told AFP.
"We received their letter. We have reviewed the decision and we will now allow them to print the Malay version provided that they don't use the word 'Allah' until it is decided in court," he said.
"They can publish as long as they don't use the word 'Allah', just use the word 'God'."
The Herald, circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics, nearly lost its publishing licence last year for using the word "Allah" as a translation for "God". Authorities said "Allah" should be used only by Muslims.
Last week, the 14,000 circulation newspaper was told it must stop publishing its Malay edition while the issue is resolved in the courts, as part of conditions for it to be allowed to continue printing its editions in English, Chinese and Tamil.
Murphy Pakiam, the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur and publisher of the weekly newspaper, said the move "reeks of ill will and bad faith" and was effectively retribution over the legal battle that is due to be decided next month.
Che Din denied the Government was trying to punish the Herald. "We have long banned the word Allah (from being used in publications of other religions), it's not new," he said.
The Herald's editor, Father Lawrence Andrew, welcomed Thursday's decision.
"It's good. Our right has been reinstated, it was taken away from us unjustly," he told AFP.
On the condition that it will not be allowed to use the word "Allah", the editor said the issue will be left to the court to decide.
Religion and language are sensitive issues in multiracial Malaysia. About 60 percent of the nation's 27 million people are ethnic Malay Muslims, who dominate the government.
The rest of the population includes indigenous tribes as well as ethnic Chinese and Indians-practising Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism, among others.
Father Lawrence has said that more than half Malaysia's Catholics are from indigenous groups, most of whom live on the Borneo island states and who mainly speak Malay.
Published since 1980, the Herald is printed in English, Mandarin, Tamil and Malay.
2. Catholic News−A Service of Church Resources (http://www.cathnews.com)
No Malay for Malaysian Catholic paper, 6 January 2009
Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Murphy Pakiam has accused Malaysian of acting in bad faith over its refusal to allow the publication of a Malay edition of the Catholic Herald pending the outcome of a court case on the use of the word "Allah".
The New Straits Times reports the Roman Catholic Church of Malaysia has rejected the three conditions imposed on it by the Home Ministry in the approval of the annual publishing permit of its weekly. The publishers of the Herald and Archbishop Murphy Pakiam also planned to take the matter to court if the issue was not resolved.
In a letter of reply to the ministry, which was made available to the press, he criticised the conditions as "unreasonable", "irrational", "illegal" and "reeking of ill-will and bad faith".
The letter was addressed to the ministry's Publications and Quranic Text Control unit deputy secretary Abdul Razak Abdul Latif.
The ministry, in a letter received by Archbishop Murphy Pakiam on December 31 that gave the green light to publish the newspaper, laid down several conditions including that the publishing of the Herald in Bahasa Malaysia be stopped until the court decides on the move to seek a declaratory relief that it was entitled to use the word "Allah" in it; that the publication can only be sold in churches; and that the newspaper was only meant for Christians be printed clearly on the cover.
Archbishop Murphy Pakiam was perplexed by the first condition.
"We are unable to see how these two matters are related.
"Even if the courts dismiss our application for judicial review, that has no bearing on the publication in Bahasa Malaysia."
He said the condition was a serious violation of the constitutional freedom of expression and speech, adding that it also prohibited and/or diminished the rights of citizens to communicate in the national language, in contravention of the National Language Act 1967.
"Connecting the matter of publication in Bahasa Malaysia with the determination of the judicial review proceedings is not only grossly unreasonable, irrational and illegal, but also reeks of ill-will and bad faith in that this condition serves as a form of retribution or punishment on account of our filing of the judicial review."
The archbishop said the Herald should be allowed to use the word "Allah" in its Bahasa Malaysia segment until the High Court decided otherwise.
He also took exception to the other two conditions.
The Catholic Lawyer's Society of Kuala Lumpur also claimed that the Home Ministry's decision to ban the Bahasa Melayu edition of the Herald is unconstitutional, The Malaysian Insider says.
Society President Mabel Sebastian said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar's decision to bar the Malay edition inside the weekly paper contravened Article 3(1), 10(1)(a), 11(1) and (3) of the constitution which "grants the right to freely practise one's religion, the general freedom of speech and expression and the right of every person and religious group to propagate and manage its own religious affairs."
(SOURCE)
(1) Church rejects 'Herald' permit conditions (New Straits Times), 3 January 2009
KUALA LUMPUR: The Roman Catholic Church of Malaysia has rejected the three conditions imposed on it by the Home Ministry in the approval of the annual publishing permit of its weekly. The publishers of the Herald and Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam also planned to take the matter to court if the issue was not resolved by Friday.
In a letter of reply to the ministry, which was made available to the press, he criticised the conditions as "unreasonable", "irrational", "illegal" and "reeking of ill-will and bad faith".
The letter was addressed to the ministry's Publications and Quranic Text Control unit deputy secretary Abdul Razak Abdul Latif.
The ministry, in a letter received by Murphy on Dec 31 that gave the green light to publish the newspaper, laid down the following conditions:
- the publishing of the Herald in Bahasa Malaysia be stopped until the court decides on the move to seek a declaratory relief that it was entitled to use the word "Allah" in it;
- the publication can only be sold in churches; and
- the newspaper was only meant for Christians be printed clearly on the cover.
Murphy was perplexed by the first condition.
"We are unable to see how these two matters are related.
"Even if the courts dismiss our application for judicial review, that has no bearing on the publication in Bahasa Malaysia."
He said the condition was a serious violation of the constitutional freedom of expression and speech, adding that it also prohibited and/or diminished the rights of citizens to communicate in the national language, in contravention of the National Language Act 1967.
"Connecting the matter of publication in Bahasa Malaysia with the determination of the judicial review proceedings is not only grossly unreasonable, irrational and illegal, but also reeks of ill-will and bad faith in that this condition serves as a form of retribution or punishment on account of our filing of the judicial review."
Murphy said the Herald should be allowed to use the word "Allah" in its Bahasa Malaysia segment until the High Court decided otherwise.
He also took exception to the other two conditions.
"We wish to state that the Herald has always been made available only in Catholic churches.
"Further, the masthead 'Herald -- The Catholic Weekly' is self-explanatory and serves as sufficient notice to the world at large that it is a magazine meant only for Catholics in Malaysia."
Murphy asked the ministry to reconsider it's decision and revoke the conditions.
The ministry usually renews the weekly's permit months before the Dec 31 deadline.
This year, it renewed the permit only two days before the New Year.
Razak had warned that the ministry's enforcement unit would take action if the conditions were not met.
© Copyright 2009 The New Straits Times Press (M) Berhad. All rights reserved.
(2) Herald language ban unconstitutional, say Catholic lawyers (Malaysian Insider)(http://www.themalaysianinsider.com)
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 – The Catholic Lawyer’s Society of Kuala Lumpur claimed today that the Home Ministry’s decision to ban the Bahasa Melayu edition of the Herald is unconstitutional.
Society President Mabel Sebastian said Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar’s decision to bar the Malay edition inside the weekly paper contravened Article 3(1), 10(1)(a), 11(1) and (3) of the constitution which “grants the right to freely practise one’s religion, the general freedom of speech and expression and the right of every person and religious group to propagate and manage its own religious affairs”.
This new prohibition issued last week is to last until the High Court makes a determination on the current contest on the use of the word “Allah” in the Herald as a whole.
The lawyers’ group insists that the case and this new government edict are unrelated, and points out that the court has not ordered any prohibitions for the Malay edition.
Sebastian explained that the East Malaysian states had three times as many Catholics as the peninsula – 715,000 compared to 220,000 – and many of them use Malay as their medium language.
The minister is therefore denying 750,000 people the right to religious instruction, she claimed.The society emphasises that “Malay is the national language, and not a single Malaysian should be deprived of the right to speak, read, write and even pray in our national language”.
The Kuala Lumpur group stressed that this development is a step backwards and asks the ministry to “revoke the language ban and issue an unconditional publication and printing permit for the Herald”.
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