Murphy Pakiam

Archbishop Tan Sri Datuk Murphy Nicholas Xavier Pakiam, P.S.M., P.J.N. (born 6 December 1938) was the third metropolitan archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, from 2003 to 2013.

He is styled His Grace The Most Reverend Archbishop Tan Sri Datuk.

Educated at the Sultan Yusuf School in Batu Gajah, he entered the minor seminary in 1955 and started his priestly formation at the College General in Penang three years later.

Pakiam was born in Tapah, Perak and was ordained into the priesthood on 10 May 1964.

Pakiam was ordained a priest on 10 May 1964, and served as assistant priest at the Church of St. Louis, Taiping.

The following year, he was posted to the Church of St. Francis Xavier in Penang and became the parish priest of the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Silibin, Ipoh from 1970 to 1972.

Pakiam completed his studies for a master's degree in moral theology (ethics) at the Lateran University in Rome in 1974, and upon his return to Malaysia became a lecturer at Penang's College General.

In 1978, he was appointed Rector of the College General and served two terms.

Malaysia's home minister has the power to impose prohibition as a condition under the Printing Presses and Publication Act of 1984.

In the case of The Herald, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar prohibited the usage of the word "Allah" on the grounds of national security and to avoid misunderstanding and confusion among Muslims.

In 1989, he received his Masters in Guidance and Counselling from the De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.

He then served as parish priest of the Church of the Nativity in Butterworth from 1989 to 95.

He was appointed as the auxiliary bishop of Kuala Lumpur and titular bishop of Chunavia on 1 April 1995, and ordained titular bishop of Chunavia, Epirus Nova on 4 October 1995 at the College General in Penang.

He was appointed metropolitan archbishop of Kuala Lumpur on 24 May 2003, and was installed five days later.

Pakiam is the former president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei; and the publisher of the Catholic weekly newspaper, The Herald.

On 24 May 2003, Pakiam succeeded Anthony Soter Fernandez, who resigned due to poor health, as metropolitan archbishop of Kuala Lumpur.

His installation took place five days later, on 29 May 2003.

His principal consecrator was Archbishop Anthony Fernandez and principal co-consecrators were Bishops James Chan Soon Cheong and Anthony Selvanayagam.

He was the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei.

In 2007, Pakiam filed for a judicial review after The Herald was ordered to stop using the Arabic word "Allah" in its publication by the Malaysian government.

In 2007 The Herald, and Pakiam, as its publisher, filed for a judicial review after it was ordered to stop using the Arabic word "Allah" in its publication by the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs.

In 2009, the High Court overturned the government's ban of the word.

On 31 December 2009, the High Court overturned the government ban on the use of the word "Allah" by The Herald.

Justice Lau Bee Lan quashed the Home Minister's prohibition against The Herald to use the word "Allah", declaring the order as "illegal, null and void".

She declared that under Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution, applicant Archbishop Tan Sri Pakiam had the constitutional right to use "Allah" in The Herald in the exercise of his right that religions other than Islam might be practised in peace and harmony in the country.

In 2009, two Muslim reporters from Al-Islam, a small Malaysian magazine, participated in a Catholic Mass and received Holy Communion, which they then spat out and photographed.

The resulting photo was then published in their May 2009 edition.

The magazine, which is owned by Utusan Karya, part of the Utusan Malaysia Group, sent its reporters including one Muhd Ridwan Abdul Jalil, to two churches in the Klang Valley, as part of a special investigative report.

In 2010, he accepted the public apology of Al-Islam magazine, which had sent two reporters to a Catholic church the year before, where they desecrated the Eucharist.

Pakiam was born in Tapah, Perak, on the feast day of St. Nicholas.

On 13 December 2013, the Pope accepted the resignation of Archbishop Pakiam upon his 75th birthday, without delaying until the appointment of his successor (Archbishop Julian Leow Beng Kim was appointed on 3 July 2014).

Hat & Tassels: Symbols of an archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church.

Cross on yellow background: Symbol of Jesus, the Light of the world.

Blue wavy lines: Symbol of the Holy Spirit, the river of Living Waters.

Chalice & Host: The Sacraments of the Church.

Bible: The Word of God.

The letter 'M': Mary, Mother of the Church, representing all the saints.

Keys: Symbol of the Apostolic authority in the Church.

Green background: Symbolises the new life obtained through the Mercy and Peace of God.

By virtue of his position as archbishop of Kuala Lumpur, Pakiam is the publisher of The Herald, a weekly Catholic newspaper.