The Government has reminded a local Roman Catholic weekly newspaper, The Herald, that no religion except Islam, can use the word Allah to denote God. The government had threatened to withhold renewal of the weekly's 2008 printing permit after it translated God as Allah in its Malay language pages. The Herald, read mainly by the country's Catholics, has articles in English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese.
But late last month, the government issued the new permit, and the publishers assumed they could use the word Allah. Abdullah Mohamad Zin, the government minister for Islamic affairs, clarified that the restriction on Allah was still in place. "The use of the word Allah by non-Muslims may arouse sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims in the country," the newspaper The Star quoted him as saying (AGENCE FRANCE- PRESS) mediacare http://www.mediacare.biz [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
