Govt Defends Rule Requiring Publishers To Put Hologram On Quran

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Guidelines on the production of the Quran are issued by the home ministry’s Publications and Quranic Texts Control Division. (Facebook pic)PETALING JAYA: Putrajaya has defended a rule requiring that every copy of the Quran bear a hologram, despite publishers saying that the extra cost to purchase the stickers is a form of unauthorised tax
The home ministry, whose Publications and Quranic Texts Control Division issues guidelines on the production of the Muslim holy book in Malaysia, said the hologram is a way to curb copies of the Quran which have not been checked for mistakes or which break the format rules set by the ministry
“The hologram is not a way for the ministry to tax Quran publishers. The 50 sen price for each hologram is simply the cost to acquire the hologram,” the ministry said, responding to a report by FMT yesterday
In the past, an approval seal, stamped on a page of the Quran, was enough to show that the final draft had been checked for errors by the ministry’s specialist proofreaders
But publishers say the hologram rule, which was introduced in 2010, has added unnecessary costs
They also question the requirement for them to pay the cost of the stickers upfront based on the print run
“If we plan to print 10,000 copies, we have to fork out RM5,000 upfront, before even printing and selling them,” one local Islamic publisher told FMT
Meanwhile, the ministry also defended a new guideline issued in August last year requiring publishers of the Quran to engage two panel consultants who hold at least a diploma in tahfiz or other relevant qualifications
It said this would ensure that copies submitted for approval by the proofreading panel fulfil the guidelines
“If the final copy submitted was not of good quality, the copy will be rejected. This would cause the approval process for the final copy to be further delayed and burden the publishers
“The publishers will also have to bear extra costs and so will the government,” it said. - FMT

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