Paper says sorry over Jesus image

A newspaper aimed at Malaysia’s ethnic Indians published a front-page apology today after causing an outrage by printing an image of Jesus Christ holding a cigarette.

SM Periasamy, general manager of the Tamil-language Makkal Osai, said the daily published the controversial photo by mistake.

“The graphic artist, whom we have already suspended, didn’t see the cigarette,” Periasamy said. “It was a mistake.”

He said the artist downloaded a picture of Jesus from the internet for use along with a quote from the Bible on the paper’s front page on Tuesday.

But the artist overlooked the fact that the picture had been altered to insert 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 criticised the picture as a “desecration”, accepted the newspaper’s apology.

But the Malaysian Indian Congress, a party in the ruling coalition, filed a police report and called on the government to close the paper, which has generally been critical of the MIC.

“It’s a very serious issue. For certain things you can apologise, but for this kind of sensitive issue, the editor should be sacked and the paper closed,” T Mohan, a senior party official, said.

Ethnic Indians make up 10% of Malaysia’s 26 million people, and are mostly Hindus with a sprinkling of Christians and Muslims.