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BFM fined for running Reza’s ‘Allah’ interview without approvalPublished: 17 December 2014
 Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan had said the world is laughing at Malaysia’s ban on the use of the word ‘Allah’ by non-Muslims. A local radio station has been fined for interviewing him. – Pic courtesy of Reza Aslan, December 17, 2014.Regulators fined business radio station BFM for failing to obtain federal Islamic religious authorities' approval to air an interview with Muslim scholar Reza Aslan on the "Allah" controversy last year, the radio company said today.BFM managing director Malek Ali said they received a letter from the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) on December 9, 2013, with a list of reasons that it had breached certain conditions of its Content Application Service Provider licence. Among others, the terms state that all religious programming on Islam must be approved by the relevant religious authorities prior to transmission.
"Advise (sic) from the appropriate religious authorities should be obtained in relation to Content relating to other religion," Malek quoted the MCMC letter as saying.
It also stated that any licensee are not allowed to provide any Islamic content which have not been approved by the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia, of the Prime Minister’s Department. The RM10,000 compound fine offered by MCMC to settle the offence caused an outrage among Malaysians, who see it as part of the erosion of media freedom in Malaysia. "The relevant and necessary procedures/requirements were adhered to prior to the broadcast of the interview. Suffice to say that we have always strived to observe the rule of law by abiding by the content code. "Indeed, we have used the general principles of the content code as guidelines for our own editorial policy and we will continue to maintain our editorial policy for future programming," Malek said in a statement today. The Malaysian Insider reported yesterday that MCMC fined BFM RM10,000 under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998 for violating the special licence conditions of Individual Content Applications Service Provider (CASP-I) which stipulates the regulator's approval must be obtained before any live or delayed telecast. The move saw Malaysians rallying around the popular radio station, pledging to contribute RM10 each to help settle the fine. Saying that they were seeking advice on their next course of action and would respond to the commission soon, Malek thanked the public for the support given to the station, adding that he was heartened to see such selfless acts of solidarity. He assured that they were working with the authorities to resolve the issue. "While this may be the first time we have ever been served a compound, we have nevertheless enjoyed a positive relationship with Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia over the past six years and continue to do so," he said, using the Malay name for MCMC. In the BFM interview last year, Reza had criticised the Court of Appeal's ruling banning the use of "Allah" by the Catholic weekly, Herald, and had called it a "political decision". The appellate court had banned Herald from using the Arabic word for God in its Bahasa Malaysia section. Reza had told BFM that Christians in the Middle East and other parts of the world have used "Allah" as it meant God, and it was not a threat to Islam. A vocal critic of the ban, he tweeted last year: "How stupid has Malaysia become? This stupid," linking his tweet to a news report on the Court of Appeal decision. He also described the decision as a "tragedy" in an email interview with The Malaysian Insider last year. – December 17, 2014.
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Post time 18-12-2014 02:54 PM
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