MALAYSIAN MINISTRY OF HOME AFFAIRS SLEDGEHAMMER HERALD OVER USING WORD ' ALLAH'

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Bernard Dompok urged the Home Affairs Ministry to let the court decide instead of continuing to "harass" the Catholic weekly, Herald, for using the word "Allah" in its latest publication.
In fact I feel the Ministry of Home Affairs is using a sledgehammer to crack a nut in full force to silence the Herald
"It is not for the Ministry of Home Affairs to preempt the decision of the court," said Dompok who is also the President of the United Pasok Momogun Kadazandusun Murut Organization (Upko).
Stating that it was an unnecessary controversy, he said the Home Affairs Ministry should just let the matter rest because it is pending hearing in court.
"Lately, the Ministry of Home Affairs has been harassing the Herald to such an extent that they have to go to court and (now) waiting for hearing," he said, adding that based on comments, including by lawyers, on the issue, the Herald should be allowed to publish as they have done before, pending the outcome of the case.
He was responding to the reports quoting Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar warning the Herald that "the show of defiance could cause conflict and anger among other races in the country".
"There's no reason for the Home Affairs Ministry to get all excited to look at this. I think they are using very strong language (against the Herald)," said Dompok.
He said the usage of the word "Allah" should be viewed from the historical perspective since the terminology had come about when Bahasa Melayu was used by the people even before Malaysia (existed).
However, Dompok said in rural areas when the predominance of Malaysian Langguage came about, the usage of "Allah" became more pronounced, especially after the importation of Bibles written in the Indonesian language, which refers to God as "Allah".
Source: DAILY EXPRESS NEWS Read more...