Day +1218 : We paid their salary, they seized our Bibles

I am fine today.

The authority seized 150,000 bibles imported from Indonesia citing the reason that they might be used to convert Muslims because it contains the word “Allah”. This only indicated that those who are involved in the enforcement do no really have any confident on their religion.

Another Malaysia Boleh! I see this as a cancerous act and perhaps only a transplant will be able to strike a cure.

Quote from a news report published today on Malaysiakini :

The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) calls for the immediate release of the 15,000 bibles in Bahasa Malaysia known as the Alkitab, recently seized by the authorities.

Bishop Ng Moon Hing, chairman of the CFM, said that the relevant government official should explain their actions to church leaders and the public.

According to a church leader, the government seized the bibles because of the use of the word 'Allah' in the Malay-language bibles (which means God when translated) which was banned here, as this word is to be used exclusively in Islam.

This is because the authorities feel that the use of 'Allah' in Christian publications is likely to confuse Muslims and draw them into Christianity. Therefore, it was banned from Christian literature.

The Home Ministry said today that the words kaaba, baitullah and solat were similarly banned from Christian publications.

In previous reports, Reverend Hermen Shastri (left), general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia said that these words were borrowed from Arabic, among other languages and maintained that the community should be allowed to use them.

Suppression of rights

Since the 1970s, the education policies have been centred on Bahasa Malaysia as the national language, and Malaysians have received their education in Bahasa Malaysia.

Therefore, Bishop Ng said that it is ridiculous and offensive to deny the same Christians in Malaysia the right to read and study the bible in the national language.

"The action of withholding the Malay bibles deprives Christians in Sabah, Sarawak and in Semenanjung, a large majority of whom speak Malay, the right to use the Holy Scriptures to practice, and profess their faith and, to nourish themselves spiritually," Bishop Ng said.

The CFM also called upon the government not to curtail or impose conditions on the freedom of citizens to worship, pray and read the Holy Scriptures in Malay.

Previously, the authorities have seized some 15,000 bibles that were imported from Indonesia; 5,000 in March and the rest in September this year.

See you next post :-)