Churchmen to protest Putrajaya’s move to restrict Herald in Sabah

Putrajaya's move to bar the distribution of the latest Herald edition has shocked Christians who said it was a violation of the rights of the church.

"I am sure the Catholics in Sabah will be greatly disturbed by this development," said Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) general secretary Reverend Hermen Shastri today.

It was reported earlier today that Putrajaya had stopped the distribution of 2,000 copies of this week's edition of the Herald in Sabah.

The forwarding company which transported the copies into Sabah was informed by the Home Ministry that the copies were not to be distributed.

Herald editor Reverend Father Lawrence Andrew (pic) said the word "Allah" was used in inverted commas in this issue, but only in reference to the comments and articles following the recent Court of Appeal ruling which banned the word in the Bahasa Malaysia section of the Catholic weekly.

"Why is a newsletter meant for Catholic church members being held up? Shocking news," said Shastri.

Calling Putrajaya's move "unfair", he said the churches will protest this action if there were no grounds for this decision.

Andrew told The Malaysian Insider earlier today that the Home Ministry had picked up a copy of the newspaper for vetting purposes when it arrived at the Kota Kinabalu International Airport on Thursday.

"But this time, after picking up the copy, the authorities informed the forwarding company on Friday morning that the consignment cannot be distributed," he said.

The forwarding company followed up with the Home Ministry that same evening on the status, and was told again that there was no "go-ahead" from Putrajaya for the weekly to be distributed.

He reiterated that the reference to Allah in this week's Herald was merely in reference to the news that has been circulating in the media.

"After all, we are a Catholic newspaper that disseminates news to the Catholic community, and we used the word in quotes," he said.

He then referred to an article in the Bahasa Malaysia section headlined, "Uskup Bumiputera seru jangan takut guna 'Allah'!" where the bishop for the Keningau archdiocese, Datuk Cornelius Piong, had called on Catholics in Sabah to continue using the word Allah, as they have done for generations.

Andrew urged Putrajaya to release the 2,000 copies as there is nothing objectionable that appears in the publication, other than merely reporting the news.