"Allah" is ok in Maylasia

From Al Jazeera English - News

The Malaysian government has reversed a decision to ban the Malay-language section of a Catholic newspaper amid a row over the use of the word 'Allah' as a synonym for God.

In a surprise about-turn, officials approved the publication permit for The Herald which reports on Catholic community news in English, Malay, Tamil and Chinese.

The internal security ministry gave no reasons for the earlier ban but the unusual delay in getting the permit renewed had followed a warning over the publication's use of the word 'Allah', which officials had said could only be used to refer to the Muslim God.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Reverend Lawrence Andrew, editor of The Herald, said he was happy the government had renewed the weekly's 2008 permit without any conditions.

See this posting for the original story.