Kuala Lumpur (Fides Service) - A number of Christian books in local Malay languages have been banned by Malaysia's Home Affairs Ministry for using the name of Allah, the Islamic word for God in their title. The books were banned under the Printing Presses and Publications Acts 1984 as detrimental to public peace.
The banned books are in Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia, the two respective languages of Malaysia and Indonesia which are very similar.
At first the Bible in the local Iban language, produced by the Bible Society of Malaysia, was also included on the list. The Iban most of whom are Christians, are a major indigenous ethnic group in the eastern state of Sarawak. After the intervention of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Malaysia, the Bible was removed from the list. "We members of the Council of Christian Churches consisting of Catholics and other Christians, are now waiting to have an official meeting with the Home Affair's Minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also deputy prime minister, to try to settle the question" Archbishop Anthony Soter Fernandez of Kuala Lumpur who is also president of the Bishops' Conference, told Fides Service.
The banned books were published by the local Penerbit Kanisius, publishers belonging to the Jesuit Fathers which publishes books on religion, psychology and medicine. The listed books include "Knowing the New Testament" by Archbishop Ignatius Suharyo of Semarang; "A brief history of Western Liturgy" by Theofdore Klauser; The Letters of St Paul, by Lembaga Biblika (Indonesian Bible Foundation), and "Prayers at Meals" by a Catholic nun. The list contains seven other books published in Malaysia on the Bible and God, three of which have Allah, the Islamic word for God in their titles.
In Malaysia it is forbidden to print, produce, reproduce, publish, sell, circulate distribute or posses banned books. Offenders can be punished with a fine and even three years of prison. PA (Fides Service 28/4/2003 EM lines 38 Words: 313)