THE Home Ministry has issued a show-cause letter to MCA-owned English daily, The Star over its front-page report headlined “Malaysian terrorist leader” above a picture of Muslims praying last Saturday.

“The ministry is very disappointed with the headline and the front page picture which were unrelated. It was inappropriate as it is confusing and will lead to misunderstanding and prejudice against Muslims.

“This has inadvertently belittled the religion of Islam,” said a Home Ministry statement today.

The show-cause letter was handed over to the editors of The Star summoned to the ministry today.

“The Star is given seven days to answer the show-cause letter as to why further action, including a suspension, should not be taken against it under the Printing Presses and Publishing Act 1984,” said Home Ministry secretary-general Alwi Ibrahim.

Earlier today, four senior editors of The Star were called to Putrajaya to give their statements on the newspaper’s Saturday front page, which has been slammed as being insensitive to Muslims.

The four representatives were executive editors Rozaid Abdul Rahman, Brian Martin and N. Dorairaj, and specialist editor M. Shanmugam, who arrived before noon, reported Utusan Malaysia.

Editor-in-chief Leanne Goh is away in the United States.

Various political parties have objected to the newspaper’s front page, which they said gave the impression that all Muslims were terrorists.

The Star has since issued an apology, stating that on hindsight, it should have been more sensitive to the feelings of its Muslim readers.

“It has been the practice of The Star to respect the first day of Ramadan every year and to place a picture of Muslims at the first tarawih prayer on the front page of the paper. This has been done over the last decade or so.

“This year, there was an unfortunate coincidence of the lead story being of a terrorist leader which led to many linking the headline and the picture, which was never the intention of the newspaper.

“We sincerely apologise for the error of judgment on our part,” it said in a statement yesterday. – May 29, 2017.