The weekly Catholic newspaper The Herald and Catholic Asian News [CANews] – a newsmagazine which “raises critical awareness of spirituality, human rights and social justice” - have received written warnings from the Home Ministry [Kementerian Dalam Negeri - KDN] NOT to publish human rights and social justice articles, and instead stick to “articles pertaining to your religion only.”

The warning letter came after two written notices, and if not complied with, will be followed by a ’show cause’ letter as a precursor to a suspension/termination of publishing license.

CANews’ lawyers have responded in writing to KDN to explain the Catholic-Christian meaning of the term “religion”, which includes matters of rights, justice and truth.

The KDN warnings came a few days before Information Minister Shabery Cheek was quoted in Bernama [20 Jul '08] as saying, “The govt. never meddles in news selection.”

CANews has in the recent past published issues covering among others, the 2008 Elections, the Royal Commission’s proposal for judicial reforms and the recent petrol price hike.

More developments as they arise…

In the meantime Charles Hector wrote this post on his blog: “Pakatan Rakyat should intervene [in The Herald's court case] on [the issue of] non-exclusivity of [the term] ‘Allah’: What is the position of the Pakatan Rakyat on this matter?

[Full post and details on the Herald case below...]

In the article “Is PAS a Past Phobia Among Christians?” by David Anthony, which appeared in the April 2008 issue of Catholic Asian News [CANews]: “PAS president Datuk Seri Abdul Hadi Awang … said: ‘They (non-Muslims) can use the word Allah freely…’”

However, the question posed by Charles is based on the assumption that PAS, PKR and DAP are
separate and autonomous entities and so have differing stands on this and other issues.

While this may be true for, say, the more contentious Hudud/Islamic State issue; [to which, I may point out, Anwar went on record in the same publication's February 2005 issue as saying that he agrees with the Islamic state concept "in the classical context ... but in the present context I'm committed to the Constitutional framework."].

On the other hand, for most, if not all other issues, one must, when viewing Pakatan Rakyat, take the entity as a whole.  

Therefore if one ‘department’ makes a ’stand’, it should be construed that this must also be the consensus of Pakatan Rakyat [PR]. We have extended this ‘courtesy’ to BN for the last 50 years, so why not accord PR the same?

Charles’ question asks specifically, Anwar Ibrahim’s stand on the matter.

I would make an informed guess that Anwar would not be so anal [no pun intended] as to make a fuss about how non-Muslims choose to refer to God, the way BN and their sycophant wolves in Arabic clothing are.

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Hector’s post in full:

Pakatan Rakyat should intervene in non-exclusivity of ‘Allah’ usage case

It would be good if Pakatan Rakyat, or the PKR, DAP and PAS should also intervene in the Catholic Herald case…

WHY? Because all Malaysians would really like to know what Pakatan Rakyat’s position is on the matter, and as such they should intervene in this case as well…

Speaking at this ceramah taking this position or that is not enough (for after all, we know politicians – and how many cater to the crowd, changing positions depending on their audience..)

What is that case all about?

The applicant Roman Catholic Archbishop of KL Murphy Pakiam, had on March 19, filed for a judicial review against the internal security minister and the government over an order that banned the Herald from using the word ‘Allah’ in its Bahasa Malaysia section.

The government believes the word is exclusive to Muslims and threatened to close down the newspaper if it defied the prohibition.

The archbishop, on behalf of the weekly, is seeking several declarations from the court.

Among them, the Herald wants the court to declare that the decision to prohibit it from using the word ‘Allah’ in its publication is null and void and that the Herald is entitled to use the word in the publication and that the word ‘Allah’ is not exclusive to the religion of Islam. – The Malaysian Insider, 9/7/2008 – ‘Catholic Herald suit attracts more parties’

7 State Islamic Religious Council from the Federal Territories, Perak, Terengganu, Penang, Selangor, Kedah, Johor and the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council have applied to intervene.

We are still waiting for maybe the rest of the Christian Churches in Malaysia to intervene…

Before the 2008 General Elections, during campaigning period, the PAS candidate in my area was very clear that the word ‘Allah’ was not for exclusive Muslim usage only – hence the other religions can also use it.

Sadly, the PKR candidate was NOT THAT CLEAR – he said that he was not well-versed in theology BUT in his personal view, he saw no problem for Christians and others to use the word ‘Allah’.

Anwar Ibrahim — ye, the de facto leader of the Pakatan Rakyat - what is the position of the Pakatan Rakyat on this matter? Is it the same as the position of the Barisan Nasional??

Pakatan Rakyat – do not HIDE and avoid making a STAND now on this very important issue.

Pakatan Rakyat – Parti Keadilan Rakyat, PAS and DAP should also intervene.

Same too with regard to those BN political parties who some say may hold a very different view from the BN government – if you do not, then clearly MIC, MCA, GERAKAN, …..all do take the BN government’s position.

Taking a stand and a position on a matter like this is not easy – but it must be done.

 

Or, is the position of the State Religious Councils of Perak, Penang, Selangor and Kedah – the position of the Pakatan Rakyat?

This is a REAL issue – so make a stand.