The Herald defies Home Ministry order not to use the word Allah - Malaysiakini

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 21 – A Catholic newspaper in Malaysia has defied a ban on using the word “Allah” as a translation for “God”, in a row with the government, which has earlier threatened to close the weekly publication.

The editor of the Herald newspaper, Father Lawrence Andrew, said this week’s edition uses the banned word. He added that he intends to continue doing so until the courts rule on the issue next month.

“We find this restriction on the use of ‘Allah’ unacceptable when we have been using it as a translation for ‘God’ for centuries in Malaysia,” he said.

The country's authorities have said the word should be used only by Muslims.

The government last month ordered a ban on the Herald's Malay edition until the court makes its decision, as part of conditions for it to be allowed to continue printing its editions in English, Chinese and Tamil.

But after the newspaper warned it would take legal action to overturn the ban, the Home Ministry backed down and said it could continue publishing as long as it did not use the disputed translation.

“Munshi Abdullah, the father of modern Malay literature, translated the Bible into Malay in 1852 and he also translated ‘God’ as ‘Allah’ so there is strong historical proof of what we have been using for centuries,” said Father Andrew.

The Herald, which publishes news and information for Catholics in Malaysia in four languages – English, Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese and Tamil – has a circulation of around 12,000. Malaysia has some 850,000 Catholics.

The publication nearly lost its publishing licence last year over its use of the disputed word.

Religion and language are sensitive issues in Malaysia, where 60 per cent of the nation's 27 million people are Muslim Malays.

Minority groups have complained of increasing “Islamisation” of the country and say their rights are being eroded. (TheMalaysianinsider)