1.International Herald Tribune (http://www.iht.com)
‘Church group slams Malaysian airport officials for confiscating Bibles’
4 February 2008
A church federation slammed Malaysian customs officials Monday for seizing 32 Bibles, saying the confiscation shows the Muslim-majority country is becoming less tolerant of other religions.
The Royal Malaysian Customs department said it was only trying to determine if the Bibles were imported for commercial purposes.
Custom officials at an airport in Kuala Lumpur took the Bibles from a Malaysian woman Jan. 28 on her return from the Philippines, said the Rev. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia.
The woman was told that all religious materials have to be sent to the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit for clearance, Shastri said, adding that he had never before heard of anyone being told to do this when bringing English-language Bibles into the country.
"It's getting from bad to worse," Shastri told The Associated Press. "This either points to a concerted effort to undermine the current practice of religious tolerance, or the religious enforcement authorities have been given a free hand and they are having a field day," he said.
"No authority on earth should deny Christians the right to possess, read and travel with their Bibles," the statement said.
Customs department spokesman Iskandar Jaafar denied the Bibles were confiscated because of religious intolerance.
"It's the normal procedure" to check if so many books were being imported for commercial purposes, Jaafar said, adding that the Bibles had been sent to the Internal Security Ministry. The ministry vets publications before they can be distributed.
A ministry official said he was checking on the incident.
Malaysian law forbids proselytizing by non-Muslims, although Muslims are allowed to encourage people to convert to Islam.
Shastri said the woman was bringing the books to give to Bible study groups. He did not explain why she had to bring the books in from abroad.
Shastri noted that Malaysian officials recently seized Christian children's books from stores — although they were later returned — and banned the word "Allah" from Malay-language Bibles and other Christian publications.
Religious issues are extremely sensitive in Malaysia, where ethnic Malay Muslims make up about 60 percent of the 27 million people. But the Constitution guarantees freedom of worship for minorities, who include Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.
2. Malaysiakini.com（http://www.malaysiakini.com）
Bibles confiscated by Customs Dept, 4 February 2008
by Fauwaz Abdul Aziz
A seizure of English bibles by Customs Department officials has left a bitter taste in the mouth of a Malaysian Christian and led the Council of Churches Malaysia to decry the increasing incidence of such acts by the authorities.
It comes on the heels of a spate of legal suits following similar seizures of Christian materials by the authorities earlier this year and late last year.
On Jan 28, missionary Juliana Nicholas returned from a trip to the Philippines carrying with her two boxes containing 32 bibles meant for her church group.
Upon arrival at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Kuala Lumpur, she was told to declare and open the contents of the boxes.
Having done so - and despite showing them a letter from her parish priest stating the texts were for use by the church - Nicholas was shocked to be hear subsequently that the bibles would be “referred" to the Internal Security Ministry’s Publications and Al-Quran Texts Control Division.
Protestations that they could check the bibles there and then without the inconvenience of referring them to the ministry fell on deaf ears, said Nicholas.
“When I objected as these were English bibles, the ministry official I spoke to said, ‘Oh, we do this even with the Qurans that come through this way’. But these are not Qurans, these are English bibles!” Nicolas said when contacted.
As to when the bibles can be returned to her “would depend on those people at the division”, Nicholas said she was told further.
After a follow-up call today to the ministry, Nicholas said she was informed she could now pick up the bibles from the division office located near the airport.
She insisted, however, that the ministry issue to her an official apology for the inconvenience caused and a letter of assurance that the incidence would not recur.
“They cannot allow such things to happen again. How can they do this to you?” asked an indignant Nicholas.
Echoing her demand today, Council of Churches Malaysia general secretary Dr Hermen Shastri said it should be known categorically that “the bible is Holy Scripture for Christians.”
“No authority on earth should deny Christians the right to possess, read and travel with their bibles,” he said in a statement.
“We call upon the prime minister, who is also the internal security minister, to make a clear and unequivocal statement to assure Christians in the country that they will not be subject to such harassment and that their holy books will not be subject to the scrutiny of the Control Division of Publications and Al-Quran Texts of the Internal Security Ministry.
“For a country that has celebrated, cultivated and sustained 50 years of religious freedom and harmonious living between all faith communities, this latest episode is another example of how the unilateral actions of certain government agencies are undermining the government’s stated claims of protecting religious freedom in the country,” said Shastri.
Earlier this year, the Internal Security Ministry confiscated English language Christian children’s books said to contain offensive caricatures of prophets from several bookshops in three states.
Last year, a Sabah church filed a suit against the government and Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in his capacity as internal security minister for not allowing the import of Christian literature from Indonesia containing the word ‘Allah’.
Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) Church president Pastor Jerry Dusing filed the suit on behalf of the church at the Kuala Lumpur High Court on Dec 10 after six titles for their Sunday school education for children were banned from being imported.
In 2006, about 1,000 copies of bibles in Bahasa Indonesia were seized in Port Klang and had remained in Customs’ possession.
Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Aziz had earlier told Parliament that the government prohibited the distribution of bibles in Bahasa Malaysia.
The prime minister however stated that Bahasa Malaysia bibles are not banned but must be labeled with the words 'Not for Muslims’.
3. USA Today (http://blogs.usatoday.com)
Government seizes Bibles from woman at Malaysia airport, 4 February 2008
by Mike Carney
The Associated Press says customs agents seized 32 English-language Bibles from a woman who landed at an airport last week in Kuala Lumpur.
Royal Malaysian Customs tells the wire service that officials were just trying to determine if the woman was planning to sell the books. But a spokesman for the Council of Churches of Malaysia says she was carrying them for members of a religious study group, and claims that government agents told her that religious materials had to be screened by the Internal Security Ministry before they could be brought into the country.
The majority of Malaysia's population is Muslim, and critics of the government say it has been discriminating against people of other faiths.
"It's getting from bad to worse," the Rev. Hermen Shastri tells AP. "This either points to a concerted effort to undermine the current practice of religious tolerance, or the religious enforcement authorities have been given a free hand and they are having a field day."
Last month, his group complained about "state enforcement officials of the Publications and Al-Quran Texts Control Department under the Internal Security Ministry who recently confiscated English language Christian children’s books said to contain offensive caricatures of prophets from several bookshops in three states; Johor Baru, Negeri Sembilan and Perak."
4. The China Post (http://www.chinapost.com.tw)
Malay Christians upset over seizure of Bibles, 5 February 2008
KUALA LUMPUR(Reuters) -- A Malaysian church group accused the government on Monday of harassing Christians after customs officers seized 32 Bibles from an airline passenger.
Council of Churches of Malaysia said the officers at a Kuala Lumpur airport had on Jan. 28 confiscated the Bibles from a Malaysian Christian woman who was returning home from Manila.
"The Council of Churches is flabbergasted that such acts are happening in our country with such frequency and impunity," its General Secretary, Rev. Hermen Shastri, said in a statement.
"We call upon the prime minister... to make a clear and unequivocal statement to assure Christians in the country that they will not be subject to such harassment," he said.
The Bible seizure is the latest in a series of disputes that is stoking fears of an erosion of non-Muslims' rights.
The reverend said the Internal Security Ministry, which vetted the Bibles, should immediately release them.
A senior ministry official, who declined to be identified, said the matter had been resolved and the Bibles would be immediately returned to the owner. "The books should not have been confiscated in the first place," the official said by telephone, adding that they were not on the banned list.
Last month, the government decreed that a Catholic newspaper cannot use the word Allah, upholding a ruling that non-Muslims are forbidden from using the word to describe their God.
Politically dominant Malay Muslims form about 60 percent of the population of about 26 million, while the ethnic Chinese and Indian minorities include Hindus, Buddhists, Christians and Sikhs.
(End)
PS: By the way, I happened to find an individual blog which quoted the CCM statement on this issue. Now we cannot the statement on the CCM homepage any more. Also, the Star Online, a Malaysian English newspaper displayed another news report on this issue so that readers might settle down the issue quietly. See the below. (Lily)
(1)individual blog “bobjots.redux”(http://www.bobjots.org)
CCM Press Statement On Bible Confiscation
The Council of Churches of Malaysia issued this statement earlier yesterday in response to the confiscation of the English language Bibles at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport's Low Cost Carrier Terminal :
Confiscation of English Bibles in Malaysia
It has been brought to our attention that a Malaysian Christian has suffered much spiritual anguish and indignation as she had her English Bibles confiscated by the Custom Officers at the airport (LCCT) recently, when she returned from a visit to Manila, Philippines.
The Custom Officer had insisted that the English Bibles had to be sent to the Internal Security Ministry’s Control Division of Publications and Al-Quran Texts (Bahagian Kawalan Penerbitan dan Teks Al-Quran), for clearance.
The Council of Churches is flabbergasted that such acts are happening in our country with such frequency and impunity.
We want to state categorically that the Bible is Holy Scripture for Christians. No authority on earth should deny Christians the right to possess, read and travel with their Bibles.
The Council of Churches calls for the immediate release of the Bibles with an official apology by the Custom Department of Malaysia.
We call upon the Prime Minister, who is also the Internal Security Minister to make a clear and unequivocal statement to assure Christians in the country that they will not be subject to such harassment and that their holy books will not be subject to the scrutiny of the Control Division of Publications and Al-Quran Texts of the Internal Security Ministry.
For a country that has celebrated, cultivated and sustained fifty years of religious freedom and harmonious living between all faith communities, this latest episode is another example of how the unilateral actions of certain government agencies are undermining the government’s stated claims of protecting religious freedom in the country.Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri,
General Secretary
Council of Churches of Malaysia
4th February 2008.
This statement was issued less than a month after the CCM was compelled to make a statement protesting a similiar incident involving the confiscation of Christian children books from bookshops in a few locations nationwide.
(2) The Star Online (http://www,thestar.com.my)
Seized Bibles returned, 4 February 2008
PUTRAJAYA: Copies of the Bible taken from a woman at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal recently has been returned to her, Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Fu Ah Kiow said.
He said the English Bibles were confiscated by a Customs officer from the woman who had just returned from a visit to Manila. It did not involve the ministry.
"The Customs officer has no authority to do so and on being told of the matter, we asked the Bibles to be returned immediately to the person,'' he said, adding that no Immigration officer was involved.
Fu said the incident should not have taken place, adding that he had clarified the matter with the Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM).
He said the address of the woman was taken down but no telephone number was recorded and as a result, the ministry had to wait for her to call to collect the books.
He was responding to a statement by CCM secretary-general Rev Dr Hermen Shastri that a Malaysian Christian had her Bibles taken away by Customs at the airport.
Shastri said the unilateral actions of certain government agencies were undermining the Government’s stated claims of protecting religious freedom in the country.
Last month, Fu ordered Christian children’s books with drawings of prophets to be returned to a bookshop in Kuala Lumpur after the books were seized by a unit in the ministry.
(End)
