Associated Press:
- A newspaper catering to Malaysia's ethnic Indians published a front-page apology Thursday for printing an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi criticized the action as hurtful and an insult to Christians, and called on people not to play with religion, the national news agency Bernama reported.
S.M. Periasamy, general manager of the Tamil-language daily Makkal Osai, told The Associated Press that the newspaper published the image by mistake.
He said the artist downloaded an image of Jesus from the Internet for use along with a quote from the Bible on the paper's front page Tuesday. But the artist overlooked the fact that the image had been, with a cigarette in one hand and another object — a can or a book — in the other, he said.
Kuala Lumpur Archbishop Murphy Pakiam, who earlier criticized the image as a "desecration," accepted the newspaper's apology. In an e-mail to Periasamy, the archbishop's office said Pakiam now "considers the matter closed."
Note: The Christians did not riot. Their leader did not call for the editors to be killed. No one was assassinated. They complained and got an apology.
