1. Morning Star News (http://morningstarnews.org)
Raid on Bible Society of Malaysia Legally Unfounded, Critics Say
Bibles seized, BSM leaders temporarily detained., 13 January 2014
by Our Malaysia Correspondent
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (Morning Star News) – Calling this month’s raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) “a flagrant violation of religious liberty” via his website, the director of a Christian research institute in Malaysia said the agency that arrested two BSM officials has produced no evidence that the BSM violated any law.
Aided by police, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (JAIS) on Jan. 2 raided BSM offices in Damansara Kim, near Kuala Lumpur, without a search warrant, causing an uproar in the Christian community and among opposition lawmakers and civil society groups.
JAIS did not provide reasons for the raid. The religious agency was purportedly acting under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment of 1988, which prohibits non-Muslims from using more than 40 religious terms, including “Allah,” an Arabic word that also serves as the Malay word for God. The word “Allah” appears in copies of the Bibles that were seized during the raid.
Ng Kam Weng, research director at the Kairos Research Centre, emphasized on krisispraxis.com that JAIS needed to produce evidence that the BSM had violated the Enactment in propagating another faith to Muslims in order to justify the raid – something it has failed to do.
The newly formed National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC), tasked by the government to come up with a blueprint for national unity, described the raid as a “blatant disregard for the 10-point solution made by the Federal Government on April 2, 2011 and reiterated by the Prime Minister in October 2013.”
In the 10-point solution, the government had assured Christians in East Malaysia that they were free to print and import Malay-language Bibles for their Christian practice. The solution also allowed Malay-language Bibles to be printed or brought into West Malaysia so long as they bear the symbol of the cross and the words, “Christian publication” on the front cover.
“When the 10-point solution was first announced, the Christian Federation of Malaysia had commented that it was an ad-hoc, temporary solution arising from the impounding of Bibles and does not address the root cause of the problem,” Ng of the Kairos center told Morning Star News. “What is needed is to set aside the original administrative order banning use of the word ‘Allah.’ The final resolution must come from the legal process.”
During the raid, JAIS confiscated 330 Bibles – 320 copies of the Malay Bible and 10 copies in Iban, an indigenous language. JAIS also detained BSM President Lee Min Choon and office manager Sinclair Wong for questioning at the nearby Damansara police station.
Both were released on bail after two hours without charge, but police instructed them to present themselves for further questioning by JAIS on Friday (Jan. 10). JAIS is a state religious agency under the purview of the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (MAIS), which was established to aid and advise the sultan, who is the head of Islam within the state, on Islamic matters. Both MAIS and JAIS have no jurisdiction over non-Muslims.
In an attempt to resolve the issue, both Lee and Wong of the BSM met with JAIS’ officers on Friday (Jan. 10) as instructed by the police, though The Malaysian Insider reported that Lee said they went “voluntarily.” Lee told the newspaper that no one at the meeting with JAIS had forbidden them from continuing to import and distribute Bibles, and that officers only asked about their origin and distribution.
In the immediate wake of the raid, BSM had issued a strongly-worded press statement condemning the raid and saying, “JAIS, whose legal powers are limited to policing Muslims, are now exercising powers over non-Muslims.”
Lee had also suggested that blame for the raid and Bible seizure should go to the Selangor state government since JAIS is a state agency, and he urged the state government to endorse the 10-point solution issued by the federal government to resolve the issue.
The raid on BSM came in the wake of a statement made by the Rev. Lawrence Andrew, editor of Catholic newspaper The Herald, to The Malaysian Insider on Dec. 27 saying Catholic churches will continue to use the word “Allah” in Malay-language worship services despite the Sultan of Selangor’s recent decree banning non-Muslims in the state from doing so.
Widespread Criticism
Both the minister who announced the 10-point solution, Idris Jala, and the prime minister have remained conspicuously silent since the raid.
The CFM, which represents the majority of Christians in the country, described JAIS’s actions in a Jan. 3 press statement as “clear violations of our constitutionally-mandated right to freedom of religion” and “an authoritarian abuse of power and an act of harassment against Christians in Malaysia.”
“To allow one religion to be able to monitor and regulate how another religion is to be practiced is a distasteful recipe for disaster,” said the Rev. Eu Hong Seng, chairman of the CFM.
The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF), in a letter to church leaders on Jan. 3, argued that the ban against non-Muslims using “Allah” under the Enactment is “only within the context of the propagation of religion and does not affect our rights to profess and to manage our own affairs, including to worship and read the Alkitab [the Malay Bible] in churches, homes and any place of Christian meetings.”
A number of local observers and Christian leaders disagreed with Lee on how the issue can and should be resolved. They argue that the 10-point solution is merely an administrative document issued by the federal government.
As such, many in the Christian community are eagerly waiting for the outcome of a hearing by the Federal Court, which on Feb. 24 will decide whether to allow an appeal by The Herald to use the word “Allah” in the Malay-language section of its publication that is circulated among church members.
“JAIS had gone overboard by seizing the Malay-language Bibles from BSM, as the body was clearly set up to publish and distribute Bibles to Christians,” human rights lawyer Andrew Khoo reportedly said.
Sunni Islam is the official religion in Malayia, whose population is 62.6 percent Muslim, according to Operation World. Christians make up 9.4 percent of the population.
© 2014 Morning Star News. Articles/photos may be reprinted with credit to Morning Star News.
Morning Star News is a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation that relies solely on contributions to offer original news reports of persecuted Christians. Our mission is to inform those in the free world and in countries violating religious freedom about Christians worldwide who are persecuted for their faith. For free subscription or to make tax-deductible donations, contact editor@morningstarnews.org, or send check to Morning Star News, 24310 Moulton Parkway, Suite O # 157, Laguna Hills, CA 92637, USA.
2. Reuters (http://www.reuters.com)
Malaysia's God problem erupts, tarnishing moderate image, 19 January 2014
by Stuart Grudgings
(Reuters) - The Sunday Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic church seems like a model for the multicultural, tolerant Malaysia that its government likes to present to the outside world.
An ethnic Chinese priest conducts the service in the Malay language to a congregation made up of migrants from the country's eastern Borneo island states along with a handful of Vietnamese immigrants.
But it takes only a few minutes for the worshippers to utter the Malay and Arabic word for God that has become a festering source of contention in the Muslim-majority country, deepening ethnic divisions and tarnishing its moderate image.
"We believe in Allah, the father almighty, creator of heaven and earth," the 300 or so faithful chant.
A long tussle over who can say "Allah" in Malaysia has flared anew, as Islamization that many see as driven by political forces threatens to erode the secular constitution and minority rights in the ethnically diverse country following a divisive election last year.
A court ruling last October in favor of the government's case that Allah is exclusive to Muslims was followed this month by the seizure of more than 300 Malay-language Bibles by Islamic authorities using a little-known state law.
Lawyers say the row now threatens to become a constitutional crisis as the federal charter's guarantee of religious freedom is challenged by more assertive enforcement of little-used state laws and decrees by Malaysia's royal sultans - who have the authority to appoint clerics and instruct religious police.
The crisis appeared to deepen on Sunday when Malaysia's king, regarded as the defender of the Islamic faith, gave his backing to the October court ruling, the first time the largely ceremonial head of state has weighed in on the issue.
Malaysian police have recommended prominent Catholic priest Lawrence Andrew be charged with sedition for saying churches would keep saying Allah in Selangor, Malaysia's most populous and richest state which neighbors the capital Kuala Lumpur.
The tussle over the right to use the word is uniquely Malaysian, bemusing many religious scholars even in countries with a reputation for much stricter Islam.
"When I go through Facebook you can see people are saying Malaysia is being such a funny country, we have become the laughter of the world," said Richenda Raphael, a 25-year-old worshipper at the Catholic Mass.
"In Saudi Arabia all people can use the Allah word, but here we can't. We should stop this," said Raphael, who moved to Kuala Lumpur from the Borneo state of Sabah five years ago.
The latest bout of tension, and confusion, over the word was triggered by a court ruling in October that Andrew's Catholic newspaper could not use Allah because it was not "an integral part of the faith in Christianity". A federal court will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church in March.
Government ministers have said the word could still be used in eastern Sabah and Sarawak states, where most of Malaysia's Christians live, but the ruling has left doubt over whether it can be used in the peninsula, to where many Christians have migrated. Christians make up about 9 percent of Malaysia's 29 million people.
The unprecedented raid to confiscate Bbibles this month was based on a 1988 state law in Selangor that restricts more than 30 Arabic words and phrases to Muslims.
MIXING POLITICS AND RELIGION
Those who support Muslims' exclusive right to the word have justified it by saying that its use by Christians could confuse Muslims and be used to convert them to Christianity.
At one of a series of public events to defend the ban in Selangor state, Islamic and ruling party officials said Andrew had inflamed the issue and flouted state law with his comment that Christians would keep saying Allah. An effigy of the priest was reportedly burned at a recent protest by Muslims.
"It is part and parcel of the uniqueness of Malaysia," said Hamidzun Khairuddin, a 47-year-old Muslim resident who came to watch the sparsely attended event by the side of a football field. "Everybody has to respect other religions."
A large number of Islamic scholars say Allah is not exclusive to Muslims. Many have noted that Allah is not a name, with a literal meaning in Arabic of "the God". The term predates the founding of Islam and the Quran does not prohibit other religions from using it.
Critics say Prime Minister Najib Razak's government, which is under pressure over a jump in living costs as it cuts fuel and food subsidies, has given confusing signals on the issue and at worst encouraged conservative Islamist elements within the long-ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO).
The government has tilted away from liberal reforms and catered more to UMNO and Islamic traditionalists since last May's unconvincing election win, in which ethnic Chinese voters and many urban Malays deserted the long-ruling coalition.
While promoting his anti-extremist Global Movement of Moderates on foreign trips, at home Najib has allowed senior party members and ministers to sharply raise their rhetoric against perceived threats to mainstream Islam. The interior ministry this month banned a prominent civil society group, partly because some of its members were deemed un-Islamic.
"They have totally abdicated their responsibility to provide leadership at a time of crisis," said Andrew Khoo, co-chairman of the Malaysian Bar Council's Human Rights Committee.
"Malaysia's international reputation must be suffering as a result of this."
Najib - whose cabinet endorsed a 10-point plan in 2011 that allowed the importation and publication of Bibles in Malay - has not mentioned that agreement, calling for the dispute to be settled using "the rule of law and dialogue as well as mutual respect". The plan was announced after arsonists firebombed several churches in 2010 over an initial ruling that allowed the Catholic newspaper to use the Arabic word.
The three-party opposition has also not made a united condemnation of the January 2 seizure of Bibles from a Christian group.
That reflects the political risks of appearing not to defend Islam. A survey by the University of Malaya found that 77 percent of Malays, who are Muslim and make up about 60 percent of the population, felt Allah should not be used by other religions.
"It's a collective failure of the whole system of maintaining balance and good sense between the different races and religious groups," said Ahmad Fauzi Abdul Hamid, associate professor of political science at Universiti Sains Malaysia.
That has left Christian worshippers in Selangor and other states in limbo over what they see as an integral part of their faith. The worshippers at Our Lady of Lourdes church said the word had been second nature to them and their only way to refer to God since their childhoods in Borneo.
"I don't like the Malaysian system where politics is mixed with the religious because these are two different things and very sensitive," said Frendie Aloysius, a 29-year-old customs officer, after attending Mass.
(Additional reporting by Angie Teo; editing by Simon Cameron-Moore)
3.Union of Catholic Asian News (http://www.ucanews.com)
Christians say they were tricked into converting to Islam
Inhabitants of remote Malaysian village say they were bribed, 20 January 2014
The small, white, nondescript wooden Protestant Church in Sabah (PCS) church in the Dusun village of Layung Maliau, in Sabah's remote Pitas district, was again packed for its Sunday service yesterday.
It has been filled to the brim since the first Sunday of 2014.
But what was strange in this revival of faith in this dirt poor village of 100 people is that a third of the worshippers are “Muslims” – or are supposed to be.
“They think they had converted us (to Islam). They are wrong. We are still Christians and our faith in God has not changed,” housewife Lenney Masangal said, explaining the presence of “Muslims” at the church.
The 41-year-old mother of three was one of 33 people from the village who claimed that they were tricked into converting into Islam for a mere RM100 on New Year's day.
They were part of a group of about 64 people, including children, from three villages in Pitas – Kampung Layung Maliau, Dowokon and Sosop – who had allegedly been converted.
A fellow villager, on returning from Pitas town, called everyone to his house to announce the “good news” that “some people from Kuala Lumpur” are giving them financial assistance.
“We all went to his house to hear how we could receive the financial assistance,” farmer Maison Bilu said.
When told that the amount would be RM800 per person, Maison was beyond excited.
The 44-year-old lost all sense of reasoning as he – there are seven of them in his family – was only thinking of how much he would be getting.
“Nobody asked who were these people giving us the financial assistance. We were only told 'people from Kuala Lumpur'. We didn't even ask the reason they are giving us this money,” Maison said.
“Everyone just wanted the money. That's all.”
Getting RM800 was like winning the lottery for the villagers who depended on subsistence farming to survive.
(Source: Herald Malaysia)
(End)
