Malaysian Catholic weekly faces problems to renew publishing permit
Catholic weekly in quandary over permit
www.MalaysiaKini.com
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.
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Malaysian Catholic weekly may be facing problems renewing its permit, Samy is facing even a more bigger problem - a situation that requires a choice between options that are or seem equally unfavorable or mutually exclusive
SAMY’S Dilemma now is he is unable to Deliver BN Indian Votes and Fearful of Protest Votes in the coming GE was advised by UMNO Youth Hishamuddin to Send MIC youths on Nationwide 1-week Tour for Damage Control.
It has finally dawn and sunk on Samy Vellu and his MIC stalwarts that the recent HINDRAF uprising has greatly affected his ability to deliver the votes in the coming GE which might greatly affect a number of marginal seats in which the Indians votes might hold sway for the BN candidates. The BN think tank is fearful of these “protest votes” and the UMNO Youth through its leader Datuk Hishamuddin has advised the MIC youths to do a quick “damage control” exercise and go on a Nation wide tour to correct the change in “loyalty”. The hurt and damage would be difficult to erase now and this is more so with the five Hindraf icons safely locked up in Kamunting. What has been done cannot be so easily undone within a week?
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Sending the MIC Youth to all the far reaches of the "Malaysian Indian" Empire is an act too late at this point and time. What was MIC and the Youth doing all this time whilst the down trodden and ridiculed "Kilengs" starved and drank themselves into 'zimbos'.
Does one know that the Kalinga Empire embraced the whole of South India and the Malay Archipelagi ( Including present day Indonesia up to Vitnam and Cambodia) and that one must be proud to be called a Kling because he or she descends from a once mighty Empire which Malaysia will never be under present circumstances. So be proud to be called 'Kling".
Perhaps MIC Youth should borrow the KRIS from HISHAM and take it along during their tours to defend themselves when they meet those who do not want to meet them. The UMNOPUTRAS and MICPUTRAS have fattened the calf and eaten it to the full. Now they want more calves. Surely the Malaysians of Indian origin are not going to be duped again. They now know - as well explained by Lim Kit Siang - that they could be the determining factors in numerous Parliamentary seats and State Assemblies. Let MIC Youth and all the old looking fattened youth crawl to the Malaysian Indian 'Heros' till 'the cows come home'.
The coming election will be the doom of numerous so called stalwarts who have so far pillaged and raped this country without remorse or any sense of mercy or decency and smuggled away its wealth and made the citizens now and later more poorer and in debt for many future generations.
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