Bibles: DAP slams Hisham's insensitivity, MCA demands apology

MCA has demanded that the Home Ministry (KDN) remove two "degrading conditions" imposed on the recent release of Malay-language Bibles and immediately apologise to Christians and all Malaysians for its "seditious actions which clearly have incited distress and disharmony among God-fearing Malaysians irrespective of creed".

In a rare outburst, MCA central commitee member Loh Seng Kok described the conditions imposed - to stamp “for Christians only” and a serial number onto the books - as "desecration" that is "no different than religious profiling of the Al Kitab as a high-risk terrorist object which the Al Kitab is nowhere near to".

"The Al Kitab is a sacred scripture and should be accorded with respect and dignity no different than the scriptures of other religions," Loh said in a press statement released late in the evening.

"KDN’s two conditions and high-handedness betray the spirit of goodwill aimed at releasing the sacred texts. Bureaucrats who violated the Al Kitab suffer from the 4 syndromes which Prime Minister Dato’ Sri Najib had warned Barisan Nasional about - delusion, amnesia, inertia and arrogance."

If this happened to the Quran

However, KDN is run by Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also the cousin of Prime Minister Najib Razak. Political watchers have said it is inconceivable that ministry officials would not have informed him of the two steps.

They also refuse to believe that Hisham would not have kept Najib apprised of such a major situation, which can affect the outcome of the upcoming Sarawak state elections. Some 43 per cent of Sarawakians are Christians and take the detention and defilement of their Holy Book to heart.

DAP leaders have been urging both Najib and Hisham to stop playing fire with racial and religious feelings.

"It is sheer insensitivity. They wanted a quick way to release the Bibles so as not to antagonize the Christians in Sarawak but what they have done is even worse than before. There should be no excuses, imagine if someone did this to the Quran, how would Hisham and Najib react," DAP MP for Ipoh Barat M Kulasegaran told Malaysia Chronicle.