CAUGHT TRYING TO DELETE EVIDENCE: 'Allah’ censored on Astro channel?

KUALA LUMPUR— The raging debate over “Allah” has found its way onto television screens, after a viewer complained the Arabic word was censored from a Hindi film shown by satellite television broadcaster Astro.

According to the complainant, he was watching the Bollywood movie “Pukar” on Astro’s Zee Variasi channel on January 12 when he noticed the alleged censorship of the word in the song “Ek Tu Hi Bharosa” near the end of the show.

Two lines from the lyrics of the Hindi song read “he ishwar ya allaah yeh pukaar sun le” (God, Allah, listen to this cry) and “he ishwar ya allaah he daata” (Oh God, Allah, supreme being.) It is alleged that the utterances of the word “Allah” were omitted during these parts of the song.

“‘Ya Allah’ was silenced throughout the song, similar to the word ‘sex’ in ‘Two and a Half Men’ aired on ntv7. I am angered with such disregard by Astro for treating the word Allah as a derogatory word,” read the complaint to the satellite TV operator that was also made available to The Malay Mail Online.

The viewer, who asked to remain anonymous, told The Malay Mail Online that Astro has yet to reply to the complaint he sent via email on Monday.

Astro has also not responded to telephone calls and emailed enquiries made by The Malay Mail Online over the complaint of censorship since the start of the week.

A spokesperson had said on Tuesday that an official response would be ready by yesterday, but none was received at the time of writing.

This is not the first time Astro has encountered controversy over religion in its programmes.

In August last year, The Malay Mail Online received a letter from a viewer named Patricia Anne Martinez who complained then of a visual warning displayed repeatedly during a documentary on Pope Francis, the head of the global Catholic Church, aired on Astro.

According to the complaint then, the message was shown four times during the documentary and read: “This programme portrays depiction of religious figures and represents views other than Muslims’. Viewer discretion is advised.”

Martinez, who is Catholic, had labelled the warning as “insulting” and “insensitive”, saying it was akin to portraying a show on the head of one of the world’s largest religions as similar to pornography.

Following massive public uproar, Astro reworded the disclaimer soon after and appended it to subsequent broadcasts of the documentary.

The new disclaimer read: “The following programme may contain religious views, statements or scenes that may require viewer discretion.”

The broadcaster currently has over three million subscribers in Malaysia and dominates the local pay-television market.

Astro describes itself on its website as a “leading integrated consumer media entertainment group in Malaysia and Southeast Asia” with a customer base of over 3.5 million residential customers or approximately 52 per cent penetration of Malaysian TV households.

It was awarded the “Brand of the Year” award at Malaysia’s Putra Brand Awards in  2012, in recognition of the broadcaster’s efforts to “exemplify innovation, quality and strong corporate social responsibilities.”

Malaysia continues to be mired in a prolonged religious and legal dispute over “Allah” that the dominant Malay-Muslim community believes is exclusive to Islam and may not be used by followers of other faiths despite arguments that the word has been a part of other communities’ worship for generations.  -  Malay Mail