Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Jan 8, 2009 / 20:49 pm
The Malaysian government has announced it will allow a Catholic newspaper’s Malay edition to be published, but will not allow the paper to use the word “Allah” as a translation of “God.”
For more than a year the Herald, the main Catholic weekly in Malaysia, has been in a legal dispute with the government over its use of the word "Allah" as a Malay translation for the word "God." The government claimed the usage would confuse Muslims, though the paper is read almost exclusively by Christians.
The newspaper insisted it has used the word "Allah" as it has been used for centuries in the Malay language, arguing the Arabic word’s use predates Islam.
Various news reports say the Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, who is the publisher of the Herald, wrote a letter asking the Home Ministry to lift the ban.