Al-Islam apologises

The Al-Islam report which triggered the controversy.

KUALA LUMPUR, March 6 — The Al-Islam magazine has openly apologised to the Roman Catholic Church and Christians for a May 2009 special report, which involved the desecration of a religious rite, saying they had “unintentionally hurt the feelings of Christians especially Catholics”.

The apology posted on the website of its publisher, Utusan Karya, came after Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail said he would not prosecute the reporters as it was “not in interest of justice”, while the Roman Catholic Church said it would be satisfied with an apology.

The controversy began after the magazine published a report,“Tinjauan Al-Islam Dalam Gereja: Mencari Kesahihan Ramaja Melayu Murtad”, in its May 2009 edition that contained pictures of a spat-out communion wafer. Catholics believe that during the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the host is transubstantiated and becomes the body of Christ.

The monthly magazine explained in a three-paragraph statement that the report was to investigate allegations of apostasy and the actions of its journalists were never intended to deride the Christian faith, let alone desecrate their house of worship.

It stated that the two Al-Islam journalists who wrote the article also apologised for unintentionally hurting the feelings of Christians in the pursuit of their duty and hoped the incident would not recur. The magazine also said the apology will be published in its April 2010 edition, available by middle March.

It is understood that the publisher, which is a subsidiary of the Umno-owned Utusan Malaysia, had wanted to issue the apology earlier but it was held up by legal considerations.