BFM Radio has been slapped with a RM10,000 fine for airing an interview last year with outspoken Iranian-American Muslim scholar Reza Aslan, in which he ridiculed the Federal Government’s official stand on the contentious “Allah” issue.
The “Business Radio Station” was fined by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) under the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998, for violating the conditions of the station’s Individual Content Applications Service Provider (CASP-I) licence.
The terms of the licence state that any live or delayed broadcast must first obtain approval from regulators, which the Aslan interview apparently did not receive.
The Malaysian Insider‘s Mohd Farhan Darwis and Md Izwan confirmed the matter via text message with MCMC strategic communication adviser Sheikh Raffie Abd Rahman.
A source in BFM told TMI that the station would appeal the fine.
On October 21 last year, BFM aired an interview with Aslan, in which he criticised Putrajaya’s ban on non-Muslims using the word “Allah”, and called the Court of Appeal’s decision to forbid the Catholic newspaper Herald from using the word to refer to God “a political move”.
Aslan insisted that the Arabic word “Allah” is a generic word for God, and is not exclusive in its use to only Muslims, even in the Middle East.
He also said, during the interview in reference to the court ruling, “How can you read (the court judgment) without laughing?”, and said the court case had made Malaysia a worldwide laughing stock.
