The open defiance of the Attorney-General's decision to release the seized Bibles can only mean that Selangor's religious authorities will continue to raid the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) and churches that use the Christian holy books containing the word 'Allah', said the society's former president.
Writing in his blog malaysianbible.net, Lee Min Choon (pic) said that the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) will continue to act on their own and in defiance of the law as interpreted by the A-G "until their exhibit rooms are filled with seized Bibles".
"Jais, with the approval of Mais, will carry out further raids on BSM as they regard the society as lawbreakers in spite of what the A-G has said.
"They will also raid churches that have and use the Malay or Iban bibles, arrest Christian pastors and priests and seize more Bibles" Lee said, adding that Christians and churches will live in fear of Jais.
Lee pointed out that their stand was unprecedented and had created a dangerous anomaly in modern government.
He added that their recalcitrant attitude was proof that they have become unqualified and unfit to enforce the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
"What can the State exco do?
"Clearly, they must protect the people of Selangor from an uncontrollable department," Lee said, adding that there was no such thing as a government department that is not accountable or not subject to the law.
As such, in his blog posting titled 'Khalid, show them who's the boss', Lee, who was referring to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, urged the state government to revoke the Gazette Notification published in 1999 that appointed Mais and Jais officials as enforcement officers under the 1988 Selangor Enactment.
The lawyer further explained that enforcement officers under the enactment were appointed by the Ruler in council.
"This means that the Sultan of the State appoints the enforcement officers on the advice of the State exco and so the revocation of such appointments are also on the same basis," he added.
Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) president Jagir Singh, who is also a lawyer, agreed with Lee, saying that the statement by Mais "that it answers only to the Sultan and not to the state or federal government", was wrong.
He said the powers of both bodies were derived from the 1988 Selangor Enactment which is approved by the state government.
"So this means that the state government can amend or take away their powers.
"The boss is the state government and the remedy for this is for the state to pass an amendment to the enactment which spells out that all powers by the two Islamic authorities are only exercisable with the consent of the menteri besar or the state government," Jagir told The Malaysian Insider.
Last week, Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail had declared the case closed and ordered Jais to facilitate the return of the 321 holy books which were seized from the BSM premises in Damansara Jaya on January 2.
However, two days later, Mais called on the authorities to take action against BSM, saying that it did not agree with Gani's decision to close the case, and claimed his decision would cause confusion among Muslims.
Mais had also said that the seized Bibles should not be returned to BSM and that they believed there was a case against BSM under the Selangor Enactment 1988.
It further stated that the Selangor government had no authority to instruct Jais to return the seized holy books.
Mais chairman Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa had also said that both Mais and Jais had a responsibility to protect the sanctity of Islam, especially in Selangor.
"We are very concerned at any attempt to tarnish the sanctity of the religion by misusing Quranic terms for names.
"This is especially for any move we believe could be used for proselytisation," he added.
Today, a Christian group also called for the A-G's decision to be upheld and the Bibles returned to the BSM.
Graduates' Christian Fellowship (GCF) Malaysia exco member G.Nanda Goban said that failure to enforce the remedy by the A-G, that no action be taken against the BSM, would result in confusion.
"If the chief law enforcer decides on something and is unable to enforce it, then society will be left in a lurch.
"So I hope the remedy will be enforced and for good sense to prevail on all sides," Nanda, who is also a lawyer, said at a press conference today.
- TMI
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