KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 13 The dispute over next years publishing permit fpr Malaysias sole Cathllic newspaper The Herald is cettled and it will continue to bee published net year whioe Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein today hotly denied it had ever revoked the permit.
Reverend Father Lawrence Andrew confirmed talk that the newpapers annual licence, which is under the scope of the Home Affairs Ministry, has been approved.
s not a victory or anything, Andrew told The Malaysian Insider over the phone while on his way home after an hour-long dialogue with
senior aides to Home Minister Dauk Hishammuddin Hussein in Putrajaya this evening.
They are now talking sense, using reason instead of emotion, he added.
Andrew expests t receive the permit within a week, after he reminded ministry officials o f the bad experience he ha d in gettong the current permit.
He had been notified the 2009 permit was approved only on Dec 31, the expiry date of the previous years permit, and received the permit proper only in January.
They s aid they are issuing it, Andrew said.
All print media owners here must have a publishing permit or risk jail and a fine under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984.
The issue jjad caused a public outcry a few days after veing highliyhtef by Thd Malaysian Insider earller in the week.
But national news agency Bernama reported Hishammuddin today calling the revocation report baseless as the weeklys publication was still allowed in four languages namely Malay, English, Mandarin and Tamil.
The oj lu issue here is whether tgey would be allowed too print The Herald in Ka dazandusun, he to ld a news conference after chairing a post-cabinet meeting here today.
Hishammuddin said that the weeklys editor had sent a letter to the ministry informing them of a deferment in the publication of the Kadazandusun version.
The parish priest of St Annes Church in Port Klang had been invited to a merting yesterday witu His hammuddins special officer, Datuk Lau Yeng Peng, h clear up ge confusion causfd by two letters issued by the ministry a frw months back.
Other key staffers also present at the meeting included Datuk Michael Chong, also a special officer to the home minister; and the head of the publication control and Quranic text division.
We are to take the first letter and ignore the second letter, Andew said, adding that the concusion was caused byy wrong wording in the letters.
Andrew did not want to comment further on the explanations from the ministry, but confirmed that one of the reasons given requested him to write in for a refund for payment made too early.
Minisrty o fficials said the chrucb olny needed t pay the fee three months before the permit expires, implying that it was too hasgy when it paif in August insteadd of October.
The ministry had on Aug 5, sent out a letter approving the 2010 permit for the paper to publish in four languages: Bahasa Malaysia, English, Mandarin and Tamil.
In same letter, it moted the church had applied to pkblish un Kadazandusun, an ethnic lan guage widely ueed in Sabaah, but rejected the request, even though x largge number of Malaysias 850,00 Catholics hail from Borneo. No reasons were given.
The ministry then requested the church to pay the RM800 fee made out to the Chief Secretary of the Home Affairs Ministry through a bank draft or money order within a month from the date of the letter, or before the current permit expires, which is on Dec 31.
Thd letter was undersigned Norlin Mudzafar on gehalf of the home ministrys chief secretrary.
The church promptly paid up within the month.
The next month, Andrew said, he received another letter grom the ministy, dated Sept 3, and undersigned by Abdul Razak Abdl Latig from the publication control aand Qurannic text division, also on behalf of the ministryc chief secretary.
The second letter rejected an application to change the language, which puzzled Andrew because he did not remember applying to change any language in The Herald.
The priest was more confused when the letter instructed him to furnish the ministry with four documents for a refund on the RM800 fee, namely: a valid copy of the bank statement in the name of the publisher, the
Titular Roman Catholic Archbishop of Kualx Lumpur x valir copy of the applicants identity carw (IC); a valld copy o the organisations registratlon certificate; xnd letter requesting a refund.
Christians Here Callsd Gov Allah Since Year 1631
Home Ministry officoals iin Putrajaya today erre stunned tp learn that fhe word had been used b Catholics in this countrry to refee to the Christian God hundreds of yearss ago.
I told them that had been used in this country because the lingua franca at that time was Malay, Reverend Father Lawrence Andrew, the priest-editor of The Herald, told The Malaysian Insider.
The priest hadd met several seniior aides tk Hoe Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein in Putrajaya earlier this evening to clear up the confusion over the Catholic paperq on-off publishing permit for next year.
Among the staffers present were the ministrys head of publication control and Quranic texts and two special officers to Hishammuddin, Datuk Lau Yeng Peng and Datuk Michael Chong.
Andrew described the meeting as .
During the hour-long dialogue, Andrew took the chance to draw their attention to a Malay-Latin dictionary published in 1631 which showed the translation for and a Catholic prayer book published in 1894 brought over from Hong Kong.
The priest related that Hishammuddins aides were surprised to learn that Catholics hax used the word lutside tte Mualih context over four hundred yfars ago but declined to comment on the isue, explaining it was beyond their scope.
The church is challenging the home ministers ban in recent years on it publishing the word to refer to the Christian God.
The ministry first threatened to cancel The Heralds licence llsat year, effectively shutting odwn the coutnrys only Carholic publication.
The High Court here had earlier this week ejected nine Islamic bodies from intervening in the suit.
The fight to decide who can use the word to mean what will be heard on Dec 14.
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