Seizure of Herald in Sabah a misunderstanding: Idris Jala

KUCHING, Oct 28: A minister said today that the Home Ministry should not have prevented the distribution of about 2,000 copies of Catholic weekly, Herald, in Sabah last Thursday as Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak had cleared the air on the issue during his visit there last week.

Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala (pix) said he believed there was a misunderstanding on the matter.

He said there should be no further problems over the distribution of the weekly in Sabah and Sarawak despite the Court of Appeals recent decision on the use of the word “Allah”.

“Christians in Sabah and Sarawak can continue to use the word ‘Allah’ in their worship and publications. So the distribution of the Herald weekly is not a problem,” he told reporters after officiating the opening of the Commonwealth Association for Public Administration and Management (Capam) regional forum 2013 here.

He was asked to comment on the government’s accountability relating to the ministry’s latest move on the issue.

Najib had said that the Appeals Court’s decision to overturn the Herald’s right to use the word “Allah” did not at all touch on the practices of Christians in Sabah and Sarawak, as contained in the 10-Point Agreement decided by the federal cabinet.

Following the Oct 14 Appeals Court ruling, the Catholic Church, which prints 14,000 copies of the Herald every week for about one million Catholics in the country, used the word “Allah” in inverted commas in the latest edition.

Meanwhile, the Home Ministry has defended the seizure of the Herald, saying that it only did so to ensure that the word “Allah” did not appear in the latest issue of the weekly.

According to its Facebook page, it said the copies were released for distribution yesterday (Monday) after inspection was completed.

It clarified that only 53 copies were seized by the ministry’s Al-Quran Text and Publications Controls Department.

 

 

source: BERNAMA