This 30+&-year-long issue was originally rooted in a weak, self-centered leadership of the Christian community in Malaysia. (Lily)
1. The Malaysian Insider(http://www.themalaysianinsider.com)
Christians cry foul after seized Bibles stamped with warning, 7 December 2014
by Deborah Loh, News Editor
The Sultan of Selangor had witnessed the handing over of the seized Bibles to Chairman of the Association of Churches in Sarawak, Rev Archbishop Datuk Bolly Lapok. Also present at the ceremony on November 14 was Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali (in blue baju Melayu). – File pic courtesy of Selangor press secretariat, December 7, 2014.
Christian leaders are furious that Bibles seized from The Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) bookshop in Petaling Jaya earlier this year have been desecrated with a warning that they were not to be published or used anywhere in Selangor, before they were released to Sarawak Christians last month. The stamping of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban Bibles was only discovered after the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) handed over the holy books to the Association of Churches of Sarawak (ACS) in a ceremony witnessed by the Sultan of Selangor on November 14.
Sources who knew of the matter confirmed to The Malaysian Insider that BSM would be issuing a statement to protest against the stamping of the Bibles, and that it was highly upset over what it considered a repeat incident.
In March 2011, 5,000 copies of the Alkitab were stamped and serialised by the Home Ministry, which held the consignment worth RM70,000 for two years after seizing them at the Kuching Port on March 20, 2009. In expressing dismay at the Home Ministry's stamping of serial numbers on the 5,000 copies of the Alkitab, the BSM had then issued a statement saying that the Bibles could no longer be sold but would instead be preserved "as a heritage" for Malaysian Christians. The sources did not want to be named ahead of the official statement from the BSM which handles the importation and distribution of Malay Bibles throughout Malaysia. One of them confirmed that a photograph being shared on Facebook was indeed of the stamp which stated the warning in red letters.
A photograph circulated on Facebook of what is said to be the warning stamp in the Bibles. – December 7, 2014.
In English, it reads: "Strictly for non-Muslims usage only and shall not be published or used in any part of the state of Selangor pursuant to section 9 (1) Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988". One of the sources said that the national-level Christian bodies did not know of the stamping until after the Bibles were handed over. BSM president Bishop Datuk Ng Moon Hing, when contacted, said to wait for the official statement. The November 14 ceremony where Jais handed the 351 Bibles seized from BSM in January to the ACS was witnessed by Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah and by Menteri Besar Mohamed Azmin Ali at the Istana Alam Shah. The Bibles were received by ACS chairman Rev Archbishop Datuk Bolly Lapok.
The arrangement to have the holy books handed over to ACS rather than BSM was later explained in a press statement by the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais). Mais had said that it had been instructed by the Sultan to "dispose of these Bibles containing the word 'Allah' by returning them to the ACS" and on strict conditions that they were not to be distributed in Selangor, especially among Muslims, and were only for Christians in Sarawak to use. It appears that the peninsula-based BSM did not know of the stamping immediately for it had issued a press statement on November 20, thanking the Sultan of Selangor for his involvement in securing the release of the Bibles, and expressing "content" over the release to Sarawak churches, where the Bibles "had been designated for, in the first place".
But according to one of the sources who confirmed the stamping with The Malaysian Insider, BSM only came to know of the defacement sometime at the end of November, which indicates that it had issued its statement thanking the Sultan before discovering the stamp in the Bibles.
The release of the 351 copies of Malay and Iban Bibles finally came about after much defiance by the state Islamic authorities against the Attorney-General's decision that there were no grounds to charge BSM as the Bibles were not a threat to national security. The Islamic authorities had also defied orders by the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government under former menteri besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to return the Bibles, saying the state administration should not interfere in the management of Islamic affairs.
2.Malay Mail(http://www.themalaymailonline.com)
I read the Bible ‘every other day’ in jail, says Anwar, 7 December 2014
by Melissa Chi
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — Besides reading the Quran, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said today that he had also read the Bible “every other day” when he was in prison.
The federal opposition leader who was imprisoned for six years on corruption charges in 1999, said it was an international embarrassment that Bibles were seized by religious authorities who had initially refused to return the Christian holy book in Malay and Iban languages with the word, “Allah” deemed by the religious bodies as exclusive to Muslims.
“I could assume some difficulty although I don’t, if you recall Father George, in prison, other than reading the Quran, I can assure you every other day I would also look at the Bible,” he told a predominantly Christian crowd at a hall on the Holy Family Church grounds here during a joint Deepavali-Christmas celebration here.
“I can give you quotes but not with Father George present because he is the authority”, he said, referring to Father George Harrison, the priest at the Catholic church here.
Referencing a line from the the book of John in the Bible, the de facto PKR chief said “only the truth can set you free” and not falsehoods, racism or fanaticism.
“Do not worry because there are voices from a small group, including from the Malay Muslim community in the current administration that showed the attitude which equates Islam with arrogance.
“We do not represent that view and respecting the rights of other religion does not lower our confidence in our faith,” he added.
Anwar also praised current Selangor Mentri Besar Azmin Ali for successfully convincing the state Islamic authorities to return the seized Malay and Iban-language Bibles containing the word “Allah”, in a matter of “weeks”.
The Permatang Pauh lawmaker however made no mention of reports that the seized Bibles were stamped with a warning against distributing the Bibles to Muslims and that the Bibles cannot be used in Selangor state.
Citing unnamed sources, news portal The Malaysian Insider ran a report earlier today saying the Bibles seized in January had been stamped with the warning in red letters and that national-level Christian leaders had only found out after the Bibles were returned.
Pictures purportedly of the stamped Bibles have also been making the rounds on social media apps, according to the news report. “Strictly for non-Muslims usage only and shall not be published or used in any part of the state of Selangor pursuant to section 9 (1) Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988,” the warning read in English.
Controversy over non-Muslim use of the Arabic word for God first erupted when the Catholic Church initiated a legal suit against the federal government after it was first banned from publishing the word in the Bahasa Malaysia section of its weekly newspaper, Herald, in 2007.
The Federal Court is scheduled to review the Catholic Church’s case on January 21. Other churches and individuals have followed and similarly sued the government for allegedly violating their constitutional freedom to practise their religion.
Though Christianity is only the third-biggest religion after Islam and Buddhism, the issue remains highly incendiary in this country where over 60 per cent of the population is Muslim. The issue has become a religious flashpoint in a country where the line between creed and ethnicity is often blurred.
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