Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews/Agencies) –The Malaysian government has taken a newspaper out of circulation for a month for having published a cartoon in which Jesus Christ drinks beer and smokes. The state agency Bernama reported the news today, citing as it source the Minister for Homeland Security.
The move targets Makkal Osai Tamil, a widely read Tamil newspaper, which published the cartoon August 21, on its front page. In the drawing, Christ has a can of beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other and is quoted as saying: “If someone repents for his mistakes, then this heaven awaits them”.
Kuala Lumpur Prime Minister, Abdullah Badawi (a devout Muslim), has condemned the gesture saying that it was “unacceptable in a multi racial society”. A similar ban was placed last year on two papers for having printed a cartoon on Muhammad.
The premier’s words however, are in stark contrast to the social reality of the majority Muslim nation, which has long been under criticism for its treatment of religious minorities and for the application of Islamic law in many civil law cases.