Malaysia backpedals on Allah ban for Christian paper

[Dennis Baron]

International Herald Tribune
Malaysia backpedals on Allah ban for Christian paper, renews its permit

The Associated Press
Monday, December 31, 2007

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia: A Roman Catholic newspaper said Monday the  
government has reversed its decision to ban the publication over its  
use of the word "Allah," easing a row that strained racial harmony in  
the multiethnic country.

In a surprising about-turn over the weekend, the government renewed  
The Herald weekly's 2008 permit without any conditions, said its  
editor Rev. Lawrence Andrew.

"There are no conditions, there was no mention of the Allah ban," he  
told The Associated Press.

Internal security officials declined to comment when contacted.

The ministry had repeatedly warned The Herald that its printing  
permit may be revoked if it continued to use "Allah" as a synonym for  
God in its Malay-language section. After The Herald refused, it was  
told in early December that its Malay-language section would be  
banned from January.

All publications in Malaysia require a government permit, which is  
renewed annually.

The government said "Allah" refers to the Muslim God and can only be  
used by Muslims.

Allah, an Arabic word, means God in Bahasa Melayu also, the language  
of Malays who are Muslims and form 60 percent of Malaysia's 27  
million people. Officials feared that using the word Allah in  
Christian literature would confuse the Malays and draw them to  
Christianity.

Malaysian Christians have argued that Allah is an Arabic word that  
was used by Christians before Islam. Even in Malaysia, Malay-speaking  
Christians have used the word Allah for generations.

"You can't deny a people the use of its language," said Andrew,  
adding that the community is grateful the ban was not imposed. "It  
was certainly a good thing for the country as a whole that we can  
accept one another. We need to be moderate and have tolerance."

The Herald, which has a circulation of 12,000 copies, publishes  
reports in four languages — English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil — for  
the country's 900,000 Catholics.

The Herald will, however, pursue its court action to get a legal  
endorsement for what it says is its Constitutional right to use  
"Allah," Andrew said.

A church in Sabah state in eastern Malaysia has also sued the  
government for preventing it from using the word "Allah" in its Malay- 
language literature. The church has not received any notification  
that they can use the literature and they say the ban violates the  
freedom of religion guaranteed by the Constitution.

Religion issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, where minorities  
often complain that their rights are trampled upon by overzealous  
Muslim bureaucrats with Islamic leanings. They accuse the government  
of not doing enough to prevent this, and of tacitly taking part in  
the alleged discrimination.

The minorities are mostly ethnic Chinese, who follow Christianity and  
Buddhism and account for 25 percent of the population, followed by  
ethnic Indians who are mostly Hindus and are 10 percent.
Notes:
International Herald Tribune Copyright © 2007 The International  
Herald Tribune | www.iht.com



Dennis Baron
Professor of English and Linguistics
Department of English
University of Illinois
608 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801

office: 217-244-0568
fax: 217-333-4321

www.uiuc.edu/goto/debaron

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