‘Bibles only meant for Sarawak’

Copies of the bible which were seized from the Kuching Port recently was meant for use within Sarawak.

KUCHING: The importers of the 30,000 bibles which were impounded by the Customs Department at the Kuching Port have denied allegations that the books were to be re-distributed to other parts of Malaysia.

Importers Gideon Malaysia said the holy books were meant for schools, colleges, hotels and hospitals across Sarawak.

The Al-Kitab, which were the Bahasa Malaysia version of the New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs were impounded by Customs in December last year despite government assurances that the Malay language Bible would be permitted for use by Christians in Sabah and Sarawak.

Gideon Kuching Camp secretary Dr Yao Sik Chi said they were informed that the books were detained because it contained the word “Allah”.

The use of the term “Allah’ is currently a legal issue pending court decision.

In January last year, the ‘Allah’ issue became a highly fanned political problem following the Dec 31 decision of the High Court to allow Catholic publication ‘The Herald’ to use the term in their English and Bahasa Malaysia editions.

The Home Ministry had appealed the decision. The court is yet to rule on the matter.

Wild allegations

Meanwhile Yao told local daily Borneo Post that the Gideon Kuching Camp had ordered the bibles from Indonesia to be distributed to 14 camps here.

He said the 30,000 books, which were labelled for ‘non-Muslims only’ were meant for camps in Kuching, Sri Aman, Betong, Sarikei, Sibu, Bintulu, Miri, Limbang, Lawas, Marudi and Kapit.

He said a similar seizure of 18,000 copies of the bible had happened in 2009 but the books were eventually released following a directive from the federal cabinet.

Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein yesterday appealed to all parties “not to listen to wild allegations and speculations”.

Assuring Christians that the bibles were in good condition, he said: “I urge all parties not to listen to wild allegations and speculations. As always, the ministry will act based on the law.

“The appeal has yet to be heard by the court to resolve the bigger issue of content one way or the other.”

Hishammudidn said the matter would be settled in the next few days.

His comments came on the back of strong criticisms from the Christian community and Sarawak government which had demanded that the Bibles be released immediately. - FMT