-Herald newspaper editor Father Lawrence Andrew said the move was part of a series of restrictions put in place by the conservative Muslim government when it renewed the paper's licence on Tuesday.
-The Herald, circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics, nearly lost its publishing licence last year for using the word "Allah" as a translation for "God," with authorities saying it should only be used by Muslims.
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"The ministry's Publications and Quranic Text Control unit deputy secretary Abdul Razak Abdul Latif said the approval letter sent to the publisher outlined three rules that they must abide. They are:
- to cease the publication of Herald in Bahasa Malaysia until the court decides on its move to seek a declaratory relief that it is entitled to use the word "Allah";
- that the publication can only be sold in churches; and
- that it prints clearly on the cover that the paper is only meant for Christians."
- NST
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This order is unconstitutional!!
What has the "Allah" case got to do with the whole issue of publication in Malay!!!??? They are flouting the constitutional rights of every Citizen to use BM as the national language for intergration!
How can they ban the publication in Malay? I thought they want Malay usage to be popularized!! They want all Malaysians to unite in language. They want us to study in Malay. Some even suggest Malay be the sole medium of instruction in schools.
But all of a sudden, we cannot publish in Malay when it comes to our religious matters???? What's the problem?
You don't want Malaysians to love the language? Or is it that your faith is so flimsy, and you suppose that all Malay Muslims are like you?
Maybe it is just another way to divide the people and encourage mutual suspicion.
Don't they know that many Catholics/ Christians in Sabah/ Sarawak and also immigrant workers who are in Malaysia use Malay to worship? Are they preventing us from communicating with our Malay speaking co-religionists?
Next they will tell us that we can only worship and communicate in languages that are not spoken in Malaysia!!!
All you guys from different religions/ denominations who choose remain silent/indifferent on this travesty of justice and unconstitutional action by Mr. HM - your day will come!!
This is what happens when you have mentally deprived and mentally challenged religoius bigots running the show.
ReplyDeleteThis was a comment that I received thru email ( we shall call him "Q"):
ReplyDeleteWhy are Sabahan Catholic leaders (Dompok n Pairin) n Sarawak Catholic PBB deputy leader Alfred Jabu so silent on this? We have the Melanau Christian politician Leo Michael Toyad converted to Muslim already, hoping to be the new CM of Sarawak. The state constitution changed by Taib that states that the CM of Sarawak must be a Muslim in a Catholic majority state! Sarawak is on the way to become the next Sabah (Project IC scandal..).
Our Catholic leaders are partly to blame.
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Dear Q,
True. Those guys you mention have been politically neutered - either corrupted and/ or intimated into submission to to their lack of conviction, morality and/or ethics.
They are now simply empty shells of what they may have been once. It is what happens when one trades away his morality in politics.
But be very sure about one thing though - this isn't a "Catholic" issue. It involves every one of us Malaysians' rights (Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, Christians or whatever else), whether we realize it or not!
It isn't just "Catholic" leaders who are to blame - it is society as a whole that has lost its conscience.
It is the culture of greed, corruption, Feudalism, political patronage, fear and apathy broght about by Mahathirism, that's to blame.
Nobody makes noise about anything anymore, right or wrong. Ignorance and selfishness is the order of the day. They don't believe in standing up for their rights or speaking their minds, when it is perceived that certain issues apparently don't concern them. Standing up for your neighbour is deemed foolishness if you don't stand to gain anything.
The people have sacrificed their morality and humanity at the altar of financial prosperity and selfishness. Everything has a financial price tag. Greed and covetousness has reigned supreme since the Mahathir era.
The people are content to play the political sheep, led to slaughter by the "judas goats", in the form of politicians and monetary gains.
Tell them to speak up, and they'll say - "Oh, I've got children to feed, I don't want to be ISAed. Why ask for trouble. I just wanna go on with life etc, etc etc"
Without realizing their humanity - men are little more than the kerbaus that go to the fields, so that they get their daily quota of slop to feed on, before they sleep.
Malaysian society has been successfully corrupted by Mahathir - and they don't realize it!
What goes around comes around, and may those who are indifferent today, live to see the damage they do to their children.
It has nothing to do with religion.
It has everything to do with morality, ethics & philosophy.
Malaysians have become morally bankrupt, despite all their religiosity and frothy God-talk, and they don't realize that it's killing them softly & slowly.
If you turn on BBC, there are fair and equal coverage on the UK opposition parties.
ReplyDeleteSo is NHK (Japan), so is KBS (Korea), so is CNN (America), so is CBC (Canada), so is ABC (Australia).
Even in our neighboring Thailand, their TV coverage is fair for both ruling and opposition parties!
Only in this Umno hijacked country that you find most lop-sided idiotic coverage on Umno and its running dog partners!
It is no secret that Parameswara was an Indian and a Hindu prince until he married a Pasai princess and converted to Islam and adopted the Persian name Iskandar Shah.
ReplyDeleteThere seemed to be no problem telling the truth as I just expressed it during my school days. The school textbooks were quite clear on this - but not today, I am told.
Once again the 'insecure' Umno-led government had to wipe out any references to this famous Melaka prince as being Hindu and belonging to the powerful Hindu empire Srivijaya.
So all of a sudden our museums, school textbooks etc, all refer to Parameswara as a malay prince. Umno's lying, mind you, is not confined to the mainstream newspapers.
My fellow Malaysians who live overseas please stay there because if you bring you children back home, it will the biggest blunder in your lives.
ReplyDeleteWas going through my nephews primary 6 school books, and was shocked to see the drop in the standard of education in Malaysia - this is what I found from the English book optima for the syllabus:
(1) English: Name the pictures below. Then say the words aloud. Pictures shown were of a cat, tap, tub, etc - This was kindergarten stuff when I went to school;
(2) Moral is an exam subject and so is;
(3) Physical education is now taught with books in class and is actually an exam subject: They show pictures of how to run, play football - My God this is unbelievable, no wonder Malaysia soccer sucks.
I suspect this is another money-making scheme to sell books, can you imagine 20000 students every year, the best part is the books change every year, thus no hand me downs.
Why we need quota in the university placing, says a lot about the failing of our Malaysia education system in primary and secondary schools, which constitutes some 10-12 years of failed education. 4 years of university education cannot be make goods the lost 12 years. Think about it.
As I mentioned, if only enough efforts and focus spent on primary and secondary education, there is no need for quota along racial lines. And they won't be 60000 unemployed graduates.
Government policies practised over such extended periods of time have given rise to a handout mentality among the average malays - clearly an unintended consequence of the NEP - but it also provides opportunities for the politically connected among the malays to abuse the system sending their off-springs for an overseas education, at government and public expense when they should show more faith in the national system their predecessors and leaders have helped to build.
So many stressed the importance of learning together in school for national unity and integration. I am afraid that is just another myth.
The injustices and wrongs to malays and non-malays alike built around a policy like the NEP has to be corrected - and corrected soon. Time is running out.
The worst one - the fact is, whatever resemblance of unity will disappear, swallowed by bitterness when your school buddy who scores much poorer grades get to be trained as a doctor, an engineer or lawyer while you can only get into a university course like basic science or geography.
I think even sleeping together since 5 years old or even sharing the same dress when young, will not help a bit when you have to spend the next 30 years of your adult life, working under a less-capable boss promoted because he was of the right race and religion.
From the day everyone of the non-malays realizes that race really counts in Malaysia until the day we die, there is constant reminder everyday that the world as it is in Malaysia is unfair. Even after we die, there is still no guarantee of a fair treatment.
Unless these unjust policies are changed, forgive me if I cannot, however hard I try to be naive, believe that a common education for all is a good thing for everyone. I lost my ability to believe when I finished my secondary and left school.
I am already thinking of emigrating to USA and persuade more Malaysians to invest in education in USA for the benefit of Malaysians, and produce brilliant graduates like members of the MIT.
The Chinese came to Malaya more than 1000 years ago, while the Indians came here almost 1030 years ago. Kota Gelanggi and Lembah Bujang are proof of these early settlements.
ReplyDelete· The Malaysia Constitution has been amended some 690 times. The USA has been in existence for more than 200 years and their constitution was only amended 27 times.
ReplyDelete· Because of the overwhelming power available to the executive, the judiciary has been corrupted and emasculated, the legislature has been reduced to a rubber stamp, the power of the Agung has been clipped.
· The legal system is a sad joke, serving only further the desires of the ruling group.
Living in the northern state ever since primary school, I told myself that Malaysia is not the country I want my family to lives, just in case. Seeking better education and employment opportunities elsewhere, my siblings left our hometown one by one, so did our neighbours.
ReplyDeleteNone of my sibling resides in Malaysia and I am now a PR in another country but I came back. First, seeking business opportunity and second, I come back because this is my country.
Without the contributions of non-malays there will be no Malaysia, so why must I run away and let the Umno malays took over all the Chinese property we have earned through hard work.
The racist policies that Umno pursues, is putting this country in a brink of collapse. On the surface; it seems like nothing is worth fighting, millions of non-malays have left; perhaps million more will go; then how?
I encourage my brothers and sisters not to come back to Malaysia, now I believe strongly I have done the right thing.
Some nights, when the air is cool, when you are sitting out in the garden thinking about your loves ones, and wondering if you have given them the right suggestions about not returning to Malaysia, especially when your parents are old, very much pressurising but..........
Everyday when we read the papers, we begun to realised the stupidity of our advice, the fact is like in the film Jurassic Park:
Nature will finds its way (to survive), we don't need to give advices like these, they are afraid for us and they are learned, like my brother now oversea, says to me that "he has made the right choice not to return back", my bro-in-law intends to migrate next year, we are not on the talking terms and therefore I have nowhere to persuade him, he is a professional, he is made up his mind.
In short, exodus has already happened, no need for us to encourage this phenomenon, just let nature and the Umno malays run its course. Let us pray that we have an exit ticket.
Emigrating from a developing country to a developed country is one of the most important decision of one's life - career, family and financially.
With globalisation and the world becoming borderless, mobility of business and employment is important to ensure your security and success.
At this moment, India, with its English education, is the biggest exporter of professional human resources. Soon you will see them in all parts of the world. China is its industrial power. Imagine, with 45% of world population, you combine the two.
There are increasingly strong competition for a better life and place out there.
Guys,
ReplyDeleteYou guys are great.
However, I think people should make a stand and fight for their rights.
How can one blame these nincompoops alone, if nobody makes a stand. Our forefathers did it by allowing themselves to be intimidated and cajoled into submission.
It is the fallout of this that we face today.
Yes- the eduction in schools today is the pits. I seriously doubt it can get any worse - the standards have bottomed out. The only thing left is to see its effect in 10yrs time.
Change has to come, and we the people have to make the change. It won't come easy or too soon- not as easy as the giving up of rights which our forefathers did in an instant out of fear and apathy. Running away to a foreign land won't make anything better.
We're in it for the long haul - and some of us may not live to see the changes we fight for. But it is something we can give the children.
For the sake of the children, the adults have to make a stand against the pirates who are ruining the country.
Have faith, will travel ...
Penterjemah Bahasa Lingovista.
ReplyDeleteDownload Malay to English Automatic Translator Software.
http://lingovista.googlepages.com/default.htm
Thanks.