Instead of trying to censor newspapers and keeping things hush-hush, perhaps Malaysia should simply reform itself and its treatment of Christians. "Malaysia government warns Christian weekly for allegedly denigrating Islam," from the Catholic News Agency, August 12:
Kuala Lumpur, Aug 12, 2008 / 08:28 pm (CNA).- The government of the predominantly Muslim country of Malaysia has accused The Herald, a Christian weekly newspaper, of violating publication rules by running articles considered political and insulting to Islam.Sure the Pope comments on issues; he even sometime quotes from texts -- an innocuous enough activity which, nonetheless, enraged Muslims worldwide to the point that they burned his effigy.The Malaysian Home Ministry sent a letter to the Herald’s publisher warning that its June editions had “committed offenses” by highlighting the country’s politics instead of discussing the Christian issues for which it has been licensed. The letter charged the Herald with carrying an article that it said “could threaten public peace and national security” because it allegedly “denigrated Islamic teachings,” the Associated Press reports.
Like all media outlets in the country The Herald, which is the Catholic Church’s main publication in Malaysia, is required to obtain government licenses which must be renewed annually.
Father Lawrence Andrew, editor of the Herald, denied the allegations.
“We comment on issues. The Pope comments on issues,” he told the Associated Press, saying it is normal for the newspaper to have an “ethical interpretation” of current events and politics.[...]
Father Andrew said one of the articles in question, titled “America and Jihad: Where do they stand?” was an analysis of circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States and had not mocked Islam.The Home Ministry’s letter warned it “would not hesitate to take sterner action” if the Herald repeats its alleged offenses. One ministry official told the AP that the paper must satisfactorily explain why it ran the articles and must adhere to the rules, or the ministry will suspend its publication.
A representative from the Catholic Asian News, another Malaysian publication, said it also recently received a letter from the ministry warning about its coverage of political issues.
For the past year the Herald has been in a court dispute with the government over its use of the word “Allah” as a Malay translation for the word “God.” The government has argued the usage would confuse Muslims while the newspaper insists it uses the word “Allah” as it has been used for centuries in the Malay language.
How exactly does the word Allah for God "confuse" Muslims?
Islamic press freedom in action--freedom to press Islam down our throats, by tongue or pen or sword.
Looks like you missed the one where a group of Muslims stormed an open forum by the Malaysian Bar Council discussing the effects of conversion on the families of the converts and the body snatching by the Islamic authorities.
http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/8/10/nation/22049458&sec=nation
Though this is really sad, it seems to me that the Malaysian government is partly doing this kind of thing because they don't want people in the particularly Islamic states of the country to riot. It's like book publishers not wanting to cause violence but on a national scale and as a matter of government policy. When Muslims went on a rampage in Indonesia against ethnic Chinese in the 1990s, they had to censor it in the media for fear that the Islamic lunatics in Malaysia would see it on the TV and join their muslim brothers in rooting out the Chinese (who basically run the economy). For that reason it seems that there are people in the government who just want to keep the peace at the price of basic freedoms. It's really sad. Even though Malaysia is really quite moderate (they can't impose sharia on the other ethnic groups so it's not as bad as full-on islamic shit holes) the muslims there seem to be are the LEAST free because they don't have freedom of religion and are bound by basic sharia. Ethnic malays are born into islam and can't get out of it. Chinese and Indians can do whatever they want but seem to get a raw deal in the law.
That's my understanding of it anyway, I lived there as a child but only recently realised how messed up it is.