The Herald (Malaysian Catholic Weekly)

Infobox Newspaper
name = The Catholic Herald
type = Weekly newspaper


format = Broadsheet
owners = Archdiocese of Malaysia
editor = Father Lawrence Andrew
foundation = 1980
price = RM1.00
headquarters = Archdiocesan Pastoral Centre, 5 Jalan Robertson, 50150 Kuala Lumpur
circulation = 12,000
website = [http://www.herald.com.my/|http://www.herald.com.my/]

The Catholic Herald, is a Malaysian Catholic weekly newsletter which has a circulation of 12,000 copies in Malaysia. It is printed in English, Bahasa Malaysia, Tamil and Chinese, and meant for distribution to Malaysian Catholics. [cite news |url= http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/13/nation/22068780&sec=nation|title=Catholic newsletter warned to stay off politics|work=TheStar|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-13] The Herald newspaper, circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics, nearly lost its publishing licence for using the word "Allah" as a translation for "God," with authorities saying it should only be used by Muslims. The weekly was warned not to print "Allah" in the future, but instead it mounted an ongoing legal challenge to revoke the ban on the word, which is also used in the Malay-language Bible. [cite news |url= http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20080812/tap-malaysia-religion-catholic-islam-med-0193655.html|title=Catholic paper faces new challenge from Malaysian authorities|work=AFP|date=2008-08-12|accessdate=2008-08-12]

Government Threats and Censorship

Use of the Word Allah

Currently the Catholic Herald is asking the Malaysian High Court to intervene in a court case involving the use of the word "Allah" by the newpaper. The Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam, also acting as the publisher of Herald, is the plaintiff. The application was filed on Dec 22 last year. In his statement of claim, Pakiam seeks declaratory relief that the Herald is entitled to use the word "Allah" and that the word is not exclusive to Islam. He also seeks a declaration that the minister's directive to cease using of the word "Allah" in the Herald is illegal and null and void. [cite news |url= http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Wednesday/National/2313287/Article/index_html|title='Herald' suit: January hearing for 8 councils |work=NST|date=2008-08-06|accessdate=2008-08-06]

how Cause Letter by the Malaysian Government

The Catholic weekly Herald was issued with three warning letters before a show cause letter was sent to its publisher on July 16. A Home Ministry official told theSun the first warning letter was dated March 10 with the second on March 16 and the third on July 1. The official said the Herald did not print out its printing number properly and carried articles that were contrary to its publishing permit. The Catholic Herald may have its permit suspended if it goes ahead and publishes an editorial on the Permatang Pauh by-election. An official with the Malaysian Home Ministry’s publication control and al-Quran text division said this was because an editorial on the by-election was a topic under current affairs and politics. [cite news |url= http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=24652|title=Herald given three warnings before show cause|work=Sun2Surf|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-13] Che Din Yusof, of the government’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Texts Unit said that the "reminder” was not a show-cause letter, per se, but was issued because the newsletter "focused on political issues on Anwar Ibrahim." [cite news |url= http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1384&Itemid=31|title=Race and Religion on the Boil Again in Malaysia |work=Asia Sentinel|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-13]

Malaysia's government has accused the Christian newspaper of breaking publication rules by running articles deemed political and insulting to Islam, and warned it of stern action. The reprimand underscores the tenuous position of minority religions in multiethnic Malaysia amid a growing number of interfaith disputes. Christians, Buddhists and Hindus complain that their rights are being undermined by government efforts to bolster the status of Islam, the country's official religion. [cite news |url= http://christianpost.com/article/20080811/malaysia-warns-christian-paper-to-avoid-politics.htm|title=Malaysia Warns Christian Paper to Avoid Politics|work=The Christian Post|date=2008-08-11|accessdate=2008-08-11] [cite news |url= http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=43603|title=MALAYSIA: Crackdown on Civil Rights, Media Feared|work=IPS|date=2008-08-19|accessdate=2008-08-19] [cite news |url= http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/JH21Ae03.html|title=Repression before reform in Malaysia|work=Asia Times Online|date=2008-08-21|accessdate=2008-08-21]

The Catholic Herald has come under scrutiny for alleged repeated breach of its permit conditions, has come out strongly to defend itself. The Herald had assured the Malaysian Home Ministry that the authorities had nothing to worry about as the weekly was targeted at Catholics and not the general public. Its editor, Father Lawrence Andrew, said Herald had never gone beyond issues of religion in its publications."The editorial is only asking people to pray for a just and fair by-election. Can't we Christians ask fellow Christians to pray? Is that against the law?" He also said "We comment on issues. The Pope comments on issues. It's normal for us to have an ethical interpretation" of current events and politics, Andrew said. "I don't think we were in any way going against the type of content we have chosen." [cite news |url= http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Thursday/National/2320903/Article/index_html|title=Catholic weekly defends itself|work=NST|date=2008-08-14|accessdate=2008-08-14] "In our reply to an earlier warning letter from the same person… we remarked that the Home Ministry had not defined the concept of religion in the application form for the renewal of printing permit, nor is there a definition of religion found in the Federal Constitution,” wrote Father Lawrence Andrew, the editor of the publication, in an editorial. “ So we asked them to point out where we had gone wrong. We are awaiting their reply." He defended the article, saying it does not degrade Islam or any other religion. "The article was an ethical analysis about the world after the Sept 11 attacks on the World Trade Center towers." [cite news |url= http://asiasentinel.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1384&Itemid=31|title=Race and Religion on the Boil Again in Malaysia |work=Asia Sentinel|date=2008-08-13|accessdate=2008-08-13]

The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) today expressed its concern with the threat to suspend the publication of the Herald (the Catholic newsletter) if it publishes an editorial on the Permatang Pauh by-election. Suhakam Civil and Political Rights Working Group (CPRWG) chairman Datuk Dr Michael Yeoh Onn Kheng, in a media statement, said this would be deemed an infringement on freedom of expression. [cite news |url= http://malaysia.news.yahoo.com/bnm/20080813/tts-suhakam-herald-993ba14.html|title=SUHAKAM EXPRESSED CONCERN WITH THE THREAT TO SUSPEND HERALD'S PUBLICATION|work=Yahoo! News|date=2008-08-14|accessdate=2008-08-14] The Catholic Lawyers’ Society (CLS) of Kuala Lumpur has joined in the chorus of calls to the Home Ministry to withdraw its warning and show-cause letters unconditionally as well as maintain The Herald's publishing permit. The reporting in The Herald was in line with the teachings of the Catholic Church in social and political charity, CLS president Mabel Sabastian said. "Ultimately, the interpretation of what constitutes religious matters should be left to the leaders and adherents of the faith. The Home Ministry is not in a position to dictate to the Catholics (or for that mater, the proponents of any other faith) the scope of their religion." He also said "In seeking to control the contents of The Herald, the Home Ministry’s warning and show-cause letters go against Article 3 (1), Article 10(1)(a) and Article 11(3)(a) of the Federal Constitution, that is, the right to freely practise one’s religion, the general freedom of speech and expression and the right of a religious group to manage its own affairs."“Such controls will deprive the Catholic community of current information and education in relation to their faith. Such an act by the authorities is tantamount to curtailment of religious freedom.” [cite news |url= http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/19/nation/22115954&sec=nation|title=Catholic lawyers want show-cause letters withdrawn|work=TheStar|date=2008-08-19|accessdate=2008-08-19]

References