Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Malaysia:Christian Paper not Allowed to use the Word Allah


As usual when Muslims complain about what offends them, they get their way. This time they were upset that a Catholic newspaper had been using the word "Allah" in reference to God. In response the Malaysian government has ordered the paper not to print the word "Allah" anymore. Actually this comes as no surprise as this is the same country that in 2003 banned 13 Christian books because they were considered detrimental to public peace.


Malaysian authorities bow to Muslim pressure over ‘Allah’ in Catholic weekly

Rome, Italy, Mar 3, 2009 (CNA).- Malaysia’s Ministry of the Interior has flip-flopped on granting permission to a Catholic newspaper to use the word "Allah" in reference to God in its publications. Although news reports indicated that the publication would be allowed to use "Allah," government officials are denying that permission was ever given.

The national Bernama news agency is reporting that Home Affairs Minister Syed Hamid Albar has retracted a Feb. 16 decree allowing Christian publications to use the word as long as they specified the material was not for Muslims.

The government bowed to threats from Islamic groups, who harshly criticized the government for granting permission and warned that even conditional use of "Allah" would stoke Muslim fury.


At the center of the controversy is the Catholic weekly, The Herald, the country’s only Catholic publication. Several months ago, the Home Affairs Ministry revoked the weekly’s publication license for using the term, which the Ministry had said was only permitted for Muslim use.

Father Lawrence Andrew, the director of the Herald, told the Associated Press that, "Unfortunately the apparent relief that we imagined we were able to enjoy has been short-lived."

According to Fr. Andrew, "in the local Malaysian language, there is no other term besides Allah to refer to God."


Link to Article

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

How about using Beast or Devil or Criminal where any reference to Allah comes!!

Anonymous said...

Once again we see how selfish the Islamic community is.

ChristianNanna said...

As a Christian...I get offended when muslims utter the word allah in reference to God. Allah was a bloody moon god for goodness sakes...so they can keep their pitiful word. As for there being no other word in the Malaysian language, well maybe the Christians in Malaysia should just stick to the original God, and call Him as such.
We should start protesting against the filthy words against anyone of the non-muslim race. At every insult, we should complain. At having to put up with tents floating past us, we should complain that in our culture, it is an insult not to look someone in the face when speaking. Where are the animal liberationists when an animal is insulted when the muslims call pigs filthy???? That last sentence is ridiculous...just like everything that is being decried by the muslims is.

Anonymous said...

Allah is Arabic language that's borrowed by Malay 'dictionary' to refer to God.There is another word too which is Tuhan but Allah is commonly used.So,in Malay we call God Allah but we don't worship moon god.But,that's not the point.The point is Islamic groups are so PIGGISH!Malaysia is democratic no more.It's becoming more Islamic.Muslims in M'sia doesn't care about non-muslim's sensitivity.What they know is they demand our respect for them.

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