Selangor, Christians demand Islamic authorities return confiscated Bibles
Kuala Lumpur (AsiaNews /
Agencies) - The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) together with the Bible
Society of Malaysia (BSM) are appealing to the Selangor administrative
authorities to return the 300 copies of the Bible confiscated earlier this year
by the Islamic Department (Jais) . Its
chairman Reverend Dr Eu Hong Seng said the CFM is disappointed with the state
government's attempt to "wash its hands" of the Jais raid at the BSM
premises on January 2 and the seizure of more than 300 Bibles in Bahasa
Malaysia (Al-Kitab) and Iban (Bup Kudus). "The fact remains that Jais had acted
under powers purportedly given to it by a State enactment. These Bibles remain
in their possession".
In
recent days, the Selangor authorities - one of the 13 states of Malaysia - advised
BSM to appeal to the Attorney General to obtain the restitution of the Bible in
the hands of Jais, an independent section of the administration local, for over three months. During
the raid 321 copies of the holy book were seized and two Christian leaders
arrested, then released on bail. Jais disputed the use of the word Allah in the
text, referring to the Christian God.
The
Reverend Eu Hong Seng describes the positions of the local officials as "unacceptable". He says they are "playing the blame game"
of the issue of Christians rights and "have failed to meet take on their responsibilities". Prior
to the leaders of the BSM have rejected the invitation to write to the
prosecutor, noting how this is just an attempt by the state to wash its hands
of the matter.
The
anti-Christian raids in early January, which included the seizure of Bibles, stems
from the controversial judgment of an appeal court last October, banning the Malaysian
Catholic weekly Herald to use the word "Allah". Following
the ruling, some officials of the Ministry of Interior have blocked two
thousand copies of the magazine of the Archdiocese of Kuala Lumpur at the airport
in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah state. The
seizure was "justified" by the need to verify whether the publication
was "compliant" to the order issued by magistrates and "whether there
was an unlawful use of the word Allah".
In
Malaysia, a nation of more than 28 million people, mostly Muslims (60 per
cent), Christians are the third largest religious group (after Buddhists) with
more than 2.6 million members. A Latin-Malay dictionary published 400 years ago
shows that the word Allah was already in use to
describe the Biblical God in the local language.
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