Recently the Malaysian government had threatened to refuse to give a Christian newspaper, The Weekly Herald, a publishing permit if it continued to refer to their Christian God as “Allah”, a long-time practice of Malaysian Christians, according to the editor of the paper. This ruling inspired immediate condemnation from civil rights and Christian groups in Malaysia. As a nation whose legal system guarantees religious freedom, the government didn’t really have much of a legal leg to stand on. On Sunday the Malaysian government reversed its decision, saying that it will grant the 2008 permit to the Herald without any special stipulations.
Malaysia has a 60% Muslim Majority. While religious freedom is guaranteed in Malaysia, the BBC reports that “minority groups have accused the Muslim Malay majority of trying to increase the role of Islam in the country”. Another budding culture war…
