According to The Star :
KUALA LUMPUR: The Malaysian government has allowed Christian publications to use the word “Allah” to refer to God as long as they specify the material is not for the majority Muslims, a church official said Thursday.
The Feb 16 order issued by Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar is an apparent softening of its stand by the government, which had earlier banned the use of the word in all Christian texts.
The government argued that Allah is an Islamic word and its use by others might confuse Muslims, who might think Allah refers to their God.
The Herald, the Roman Catholic Church’s main newspaper in Malaysia, has already started printing “For Christianity” on its cover, said its editor Rev. Lawrence Andrew.
The Herald publishes weekly in English, Mandarin, Tamil and Malay with an estimated readership of 50,000.
The ban on “Allah” concerns mainly the Malay edition, which is read mostly by indigenous Christian tribes in the eastern states of Sabah and Sarawak. The other three editions usually do not use “Allah.”
You may also want to read The Nutgraph for more comments on the new gazette.
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