Malay NGO demands Herald scrap Malay pages
The Coalition urged the police to arrest and take strict action against those who defy the Federal Court on the Herald.
(Free Malaysia Today) – Pertubuhan-Pertubuhan Pembela Islam (PEMBELA) has demanded, in defiance of Article 152 of the Federal Constitution, that the Catholic weekly Herald stop using the Malay language in its publication. Malay is the lingua franca of the Archipelago.
It claimed that the Herald’s continuous use of the Malay language would be in defiance of the Federal Court which earlier this week did not allow the Catholic Church’s Application for the Court to revise its earlier decision on its case against the Home Minister on a directive issued on security grounds.
PEMBELA was referring to Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew’s comment that the paper will retain its Malay section as it had nothing to do with the Federal Court decision.
The Coalition urged the police to arrest and take strict action against those who defy the Federal Court on the Herald. It did not say how this defiance would come about since the Federal Court made no ruling except to turn down a revision bid by the Catholic paper.
Pembela chairman Mohamed Hafiz Mohd Nordin referred to “the stubborn people” and advised them to acquaint themselves with the country’s laws and the Rukunegara.
The Herald case has been in Court for five years following a directive by then Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar in 2007 that the Herald cannot, on security grounds, use the term Allah to refer to the Christian faith in its Malay print. Syed Hamid was then facing a battle for the Umno vice presidency.
The Herald won its judicial review application at the High Court when it considered the merits of the Church’s application and ruled the Home Minister’s directive was unconstitutional.
