http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/762E6CD6-9B30-4465-8858-38523DF94D8B.htm
Malaysia daily gets one-month ban
Badawi, Malaysia's prime minister, condemned the
publication of the Jesus caricature [AP]
Malaysia has imposed a one-month publishing ban on a
Tamil-language newspaper for printing a caricature of Jesus holding a cigarette
and a can of beer.
State news agency Bernama quoted the internal security
ministry as saying the publishing permit of the daily Makkal Osai Tamil would
be suspended for a month from Friday.
S M Periasamy, general manager of Makkal Osai, which caters
to Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority, said his office received the directive by
fax from the ministry.
He said: "Of course we are shocked by this. My entire staff
are all in tears. They will lose a month of income."
He said the newspaper would abide by the order for now though
it planned to appeal the ban.
Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, Malaysia's prime minister, condemned
publication of the Jesus caricature, saying it was unacceptable in a
multi-racial society.
Last year, Badawi, a Muslim, imposed similar bans on two
newspapers that reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.
Report filed
Makkal Osai printed the caricature last Tuesday on its front
page with a caption quoting Christ as saying: "If someone repents for his
mistakes, then heaven awaits them."
The paper's editor apologised, saying the caricature had been
taken from the internet, but a local politician filed a police report, calling
it a "threat to national harmony".
Periasamy said the graphic artist who downloaded the picture
of Jesus had overlooked the fact that the picture had been altered to insert a
cigarette in one hand and another object, possibly a can, in the other.
The artist had since been suspended, he said.
'Desecration'
Murphy Pakiam, Kuala Lumpur's archbishop, criticised the
picture as "desecration" but later accepted the newspaper's apology.
Some Muslim groups joined church groups this week in calling
for action to be taken against the newspaper.
Just over half of Malaysia's roughly 26 million people are
Muslims, almost all of them ethnic Malays, who are deemed to be Muslim by birth.
The country's large non-Muslim minority is largely made up of
Buddhists, Hindus and Christians.
Malaysia has maintained peaceful relations between the races
and religions since riots in 1969, in which hundreds were killed
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