The home minister had said over the weekend that the bibles had been impounded due to the ministry’s pending court appeal on the Catholic weekly The Herald’s use of the word “Allah” in its publications.
But the Petaling Jaya Utara MP revealed that Hishammuddin, in his written reply to Parliament on June 7 last year, had announced that a notice had already been issued to the books’ importers urging them retrieve their consignment.
“There are a total of 5,100 Al-Kitab Berita Baik books detained. Notice has already been sent to the importers to retrieve the consignment but until now, they have failed to do so.
“The publications are being stored in good condition in the Home Ministry’s Port Klang office although the deadline for the importers to retrieve them has expired,” was Hishammuddin’s written response to a question from Pua last year.
Pua charged that since the consignment in question is still being impounded in Port Klang, Hishammuddin had misled the House with his answer.
“So it is a lie on two fronts,” Pua told a press conference in Parliament this afternoon.
He also referred to a response from Hishammuddin yesterday where the minister claimed that the Bibles had been impounded due to the ministry’s pending court appeal on the Catholic weekly The Herald’s use of the word “Allah” in its publications.
In his statement, Hishammuddin had also said that the ministry was presently awaiting advice from the Attorney-General to determine its next move in the controversy.
“So this is what is happening today. A lie on two fronts... the reply from the minister is a lie. And yet there is a letter proving that the notice was indeed sent.
“So you (BSM) can claim it back but until today, you still cannot claim it back? Now you (Hishammuddin) say you have to refer to the A-G but yet in Parliament earlier, you said the books were released.
“Is this because the minister is just misleading the Parliament to discourage any further questions?” said Pua.
He urged the ministry to take responsibility over the issue and clear any confusion by ordering the immediate release of the confiscated Bibles to the BSM.
This, he said, included the additional 30,000 Malay-language Bibles which are also presently held by the Home Ministry at the Kuching port.
“There should be freedom of religion in this country where Christians are allowed to practise in whatever language they please as long as these Bibles are not distributed to the Muslims,” said Pua.
DAP’s Bandar Kuching MP Chong Chieng Jen agreed and added that as the issue was of public interest, it would likely be highlighted by the opposition during its campaign in the Sarawak polls.
“This is definitely an issue that concerns the people and it is unfair of the Barisan Nasional (BN) so of course we will highlight it.
“The BN government is being oppressive to those of other religions,” he said.
In The Malaysian Insider’s previous reports on the issue, it was shown that the ministry has been issuing a string of conflicting instructions concerning the release of seized 5,100 Al-Kitab books in Port Klang, which were seized by customs officers on March 20, 2009.
BSM’s general secretary Reverend Simon Wong said the ministry had issued a total of three letters to the society — the first on June 10 — announcing the release of the books.
This was followed by a second one on June 24, containing conflicting instructions on the status of the seized books.
The last, on June 26, stated that the matter had been referred the ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Text Division, Putrajaya for “immediate action”.
According to Wong, upon receiving the first letter, BSM had sent its agent to retrieve the consignment but had been blocked by the Port Klang officials who claimed that the ministry had prohibited the release of the books.
The senior officer on duty at the time, one Suniranto Shukor, had allegedly claimed he was under “instructions from above” not to release the shipment, but dutifully produced a letter on the spot and signed his name on the document.
In the June 24 letter, the Publication Control and Al-Quran Text division stated the ministry had “made the decision to reject the import of the publication”.
But the following sentence in the same letter added to BSM’s confusion: “You are requested to contact this office to collect the publication before 30 June 2010 to implement any related decision or present a written appeal regarding this matter. All publication… will be forfeited… after 30 June 2010.”
Perplexed, BSM requested for another letter, which arrived two days later stating that the matter had been referred to the ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Text Division, Putrajaya.
Till today, however, the consignment of books in question, including the 30,000 at the Kuching port, remain under the ministry’s keep in Port Klang despite repeated attempts by numerous parties to pressure the government into ordering for its release.
In 2009, a High Court ruling allowed the Catholic church’s weekly The Herald to use the word “Allah” in its Bahasa Malaysia edition, sparking off a series of attacks on houses of worship nationwide.
The ministry has since filed an appeal on the decision in February last year and won a stay, pending a decision by Court of Appeal. - Malaysian Insider
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