The AlKitab and Bup Kudus, similar to those which were illegally seized from the Bible Society of Malaysia in January and returned last month but with a rubber stamp on the inside cover of the holy books restricting its use and distribution in Selangor. – The Malaysian Insider pic, December 8, 2014.A "blanket ban" on the use of Bahasa Malaysia Bibles in Selangor is unrealistic, the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) said today.
CFM chairman Rev D
r Eu Hong Seng (pic) said this in a statement in response to the stamping of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban-language Bibles with a warning that they were not to be used anywhere in the state.
r Eu Hong Seng (pic) said this in a statement in response to the stamping of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban-language Bibles with a warning that they were not to be used anywhere in the state.
"This blanket ban on the use of the Bahasa Malaysia Bibles in the state of Selangor is unrealistic.
"There are thousands of Sabahans and Sarawakians who reside and work in the state of Selangor besides the thousands of West Malaysian Christians who are conversant only in our national language," Eu said.
His statement follows another by the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) yesterday, which angrily denounced the move by Selangor religious authorities to stamp the warning on more than 300 copies of the AlKitab and Bup Kudus (Iban-language bible), which were released recently after being held for 10 months since their seizure from the BSM bookshop in Petaling Jaya in early January.
Eu was referring to the blanket ban mentioned in a press statement by Mais issued on November 14, when the seized bibles were released, which had addressed the Association of Churches of Sarawak (ACS) instead of the peninsula-based BSM.
"CFM views with great concern the final paragraph of the Mais’ statement which reads '... and hope that the distribution as well as the printing of Bibles that contain the word 'Allah' is no longer done in the State of Selangor, as it is an offence under the Non-Islamic Religious Enactment (Control Development Among Muslims) 1988',” Eu said.
He said the then Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam and CFM had both previously stated that the usage of AlKitab, which contain the word Allah, would continue together with Christian services for the BM-speaking people residing in the peninsula.
"Forcing the discontinuation of the use of AlKitab by Malaysian Christians and those ministering to them would go against the Federal Constitution provision of Article 11 on Freedom of Religion, in which Clause (3)(a) states that 'every religious group has the right to manage its own religious affairs'.
"It would be a gross injustice to Malaysian Christians whose only language for worship and for their Holy Bible is Bahasa Malaysia and which has been in use for centuries," he added.
Noting that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak had made repeated assurances to uphold the spirit of the 10-point solution, Eu urged both the Federal and state governments to work to ensure that it was indeed a solution and not a "sham".
"With the recent assurances from the prime minister that the 10-point solution will be made clear to all civil servants and the 'problem' of the Allah issue and intimating that seizure and such curtailment are not part of the solution promised, it is imperative that both the Federal and state governments work speedily to ensure that the 10-point solution is indeed a solution and not a sham which causes unnecessary confusion and conflict," he added.
The Malaysian Insider had reported last week that Christian leaders were furious that the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban-language Bibles were stamped with a warning that they were not to be published or used anywhere in Selangor, prior to the release of the books to Sarawak Christians last month.
The 'warning' stamped in the inside of the AlKitab and Bup Kudus that were returned to Sarawak Christian groups last month. – Pic taken from Facebook, December 8, 2014.This incurred the ire of BSM, whose president Datuk Ng Moon Hing demanded an apology from the Selangor religious authorities over, what he called, the "desecration" of Bibles.
He said the stamping of the Bibles was contrary to Putrajaya's assurance that such an incident would not recur, following a similar incident in 2011 in Sarawak.
"The incident has now recurred, this time perpetuated by the Selangor state religious officials. On both occasions, the Christian community has suffered the indignity of having its religious texts sullied and defiled.
"It does not matter to us which level of government is responsible for this heinous and despicable action," Ng had said.
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 in Sarawak on March 20, 2009.
The Bahasa Malaysia Bibles were returned as part of the 10-point solution that Najib had agreed with Sarawak church representatives prior to the state elections in April 2011.
- TMI
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