Jais: Don’t politicise raid and seizure of Bibles

The department said it needed time to further investigate the Bible Society of Malaysia.

SHAH ALAM: The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) wants all parties to give the department the space to carry out its investigation in more detail on the issue of using the word ‘Allah’ by churches in the state.

Jais director, Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad in an SMS said the department had to carry out further investigations on the Bible Society of Malaysia and asked the issue not to be blown out of proportion or politicised by any party.

He added that there would be no further comments apart from the media statements issued by the department in future on the matter.

According to press reports yesterday, the enforcement division of Jais yesterday seized 351 copies of Bahasa Malaysia and Iban language versions of the Bible which contained the word ‘Allah’ from the association and detained two individuals for statements before they were released on police bail.

According to newspaper reports, the two individuals were held under Section 9 of the Non-Islamic Religions Enactment (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) 1988 for publishing writings with the word ‘Allah’ for use by non-Muslims, which is prohibited under the enactment.

-Bernama