Church leaders accuse Putrajaya of religious bigotry

Church leaders in Malaysia are alarmed over the home ministry’s latest directive for the conditional release of 35,000 Malay bibles and have refused to collect the holy books for the time being.

Hours after learning that Putrajaya had agreed to release their shipment of the Alkitab — as the Malay bibles are called locally — yesterday, the importers each received a notice from the home ministry’s Publications Control and Quranic Text Division secretary, Datuk Zaitun Ab Samad, informing them of two conditions for the release.

The first requires the importers to directly stamp on the cover of each of the 35,000 copies the following words: “Peringatan: ‘Al Kitab Berita Baik’ ini untuk kegunaan penganut agama Kristian sahaja. Dengan perintah Menteri Dalam Negeri.”

[In English: “Reminder: This ‘Al Kitab Berita Baik’ is for the use of Christians only. By order of the Home Minister.”]

The cover of the Alkitab would be stamped with the department’s official seal and dated as well.

The second condition requires the importers to stamp a serial number on each copy, as if to demarcate copies from the released shipment and to enable the book to be traced back to the port of import.

A copy of the faxed letter was made available to The Malaysian Insider.

The Malaysian Insider understands the Sarawak importer has refused to claim its cargo of 30,000 books seized from Kuching port and has notified the home ministry’s state director.

“It says it’s for ‘Christian use only’. But in Sarawak, we have family who are of all religions — Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist ... If we pass the Alkitab to our brother or sister who is not Muslim, if we do that, then it means we are in the wrong,” said a source close to the importer, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“We cannot deface our holy bible,” the source added.

When contacted, the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) said it was seeking advice from national leaders in the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) before taking any action.

The CFM is an umbrella body that represents over 90 per cent of churches in Malaysia.

“BSM has requested CFM to study KDN 15/3 release letter which has additional conditions like marking serial no. /5100 and getting Cop Rasmi Jabatan KDN and dated,” its general secretary, Reverend Simon Wong replied in a text message.

Wong added that the society will not be making any further comments and that related queries should be directed to the CFM instead.

CFM general secretary, Tan Kong Beng, said its executive council is holding a meeting to “review the situation” and will issue a statement once it has decided what to do.

Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM) secretary-general, Dr Hermen Shastri, was outraged by the ministry’s letter and conditional release, describing it as an act of “high-handedness”.

“They are mixing up religion and policy ... It’s getting worse and worse. They are acting very high-handed. There is no more respect for other religions,” he said, and slammed Putrajaya for treating the Alkitab “like a communist book”.

“We do not accept any such conditions that belittle our religion. We are talking about the holy book here. The government has no right to impose its views of one religion on followers of another,” he told The Malaysian Insider, repeatedly.

“Who gave the order? Why do we have to put ‘Dengan perintah Menteri Dalam Negeri’ on the cover of our holy book?” he demanded, adding that the very act was a “desecration of the holy book”, which contradicted the Federal Constitution’s guarantees on freedom of religion.

Shastri also slammed the de facto law minister, Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz, for imposing Muslim views on Christianity; and for repeatedly linking the Alkitab row to the Catholic Church’s court case on the right to use “Allah” — the Arabic word for God — in its newspaper.

The man of the cloth said the Alkitab and the “Allah” court case were separate issues; and challenged the federal government to prove the Alkitab had been banned under law.

Shastri said the ministry’s conditions showed that Christianity was “being singled out” as a threat as there were no such conditions imposed on the holy books of other religions, including Islam.

“Imagine if such conditions were imposed on the Al-Quran. I wonder how Muslims worldwide would take it?” he said and reminded the Najib administration about the incident of an American pastor who threatened to burn the Muslim holy book last year, in protest of a mosque being built near New York’s Ground Zero.

Shastri also questioned the Najib administration on its sudden move to impose the conditions requiring that the shipment bear the stamp and serial numbers.

He noted that it was the first time such an order had been given.

The home ministry had released an earlier consignment of 10,000 copies in Sarawak last Christmas Day without imposing conditions.

The Najib administration had made the order yesterday, bowing to pressure from Christian churches and Pakatan Rakyat (PR) politicians.

The Cabinet was set to discuss the issue on Friday but with the seizure of the bibles drawing protest from Christians nationwide, a majority of whom live in Sabah and Sarawak, the federal government was forced to take action ahead of Sarawak polls set to take place next month.

The Christian Federation of Malaysia, which represents 90 per cent of churches in Malaysia, has said that Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak made a decision to release the Alkitabs but so far, the home ministry, which controls customs, has refused to hand over the bibles.

Nazri said the 30,000 copies of the Alkitab in Sarawak will be allowed into the state.

Christians, who make up close to 10 per cent of Malaysia’s 28 million population, use Bahasa Malaysia in Sabah and Sarawak churches to preach to a multi-ethnic congregation who each have a distinctive tribal language.

But evangelical churches there, such as Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB), have crossed the South China Sea to preach to the growing number of Sarawakians and Sabahans who are settling down in the peninsula after furthering their studies or finding work here.

Yesterday, Minister in Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala, a Sarawakian Christian, said the government had decided on the release of the Alkitab in line with a 1982 gazette under the Internal Security Act which allows its limited and controlled importation and circulation on condition that the books are stamped: “For Christians Only.”

“Since 1982, with this gazette, there have been no problems in its implementation. As such, taking into account this fact, the government has decided to apply the 1982 gazette and release the bibles accordingly,” the statement said.

Jala said that after a careful and thorough review, the Attorney-General confirmed that the release of the bibles did not prejudice the ongoing court case of the “Allah” issue.

The minister also noted that the Sarawak government had categorically expressed its view that the impounded bibles should be released. - Malaysian Insider