Malaysia Cancels Allah ban for Christian paper

Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (AHN) - The Malaysian government cabinet has withdrawn its earlier decision to ban the Catholic publication "The Herald Weekly" over its use of the term Allah. Cabinet officials had earlier said that the Muslims only could use the word Allah, which means God in Arabic - by other religions.

In earlier media reports, Abdullah was reported to have said printed publications of other religions would have to use the term God instead of Allah so as not to confuse Muslims.

He was quoted as saying, "The use of the word Allah by non-Muslims may stir sensitivity and create confusion among Muslims in the country."

The controversy over the use of the term was ignited late December while publishers of a local Catholic publication were ordered to stop the use of the word 'Allah' in their newsletters, or risk having their printing permit suspended or revoked.

The publishers of the Catholic weekly that publish reports of the Malaysian Catholic community in diverse languages - i.e. English, the national language Bahasa Malaysia, Tamil and Chinese is said to have a circulation of 12,000.

About 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million citizens and Muslims, 19 percent are Buddhist and 9 percent are Christian, the remainder are Hindu, traditional Chinese faiths and other religions.