Former Bible Society of Malaysia President, Lee Min Choon today said he felt vindicated after the Attorney-General announced that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had erred when they raided the premises and seized more than 300 copies of Malay and Iban Bibles six months ago.
Lee, in a statement on his Facebook account, however, urged Christians to forgive Jais for what he described as a "terrible mistake".
"I always believed that A-G Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail would come to this conclusion," Lee said.
"From the moment Jais raided the BSM offices in January, arresting me and my colleague, and seizing 321 Alkitab and Bap Kudus, we always knew Jais made a terrible mistake."
However, Lee said it has been a trying 6 months of uncertainty as they did not know whether they were lawbreakers or law-abiding citizens.
"That was until Malaysia's highest ranking legal officer confirmed that the Alkitab and Bap Kudus had not breached any laws in the country.
"I thank God for the grace and fortitude he has given to my colleagues in BSM, and for bringing about a just end to this controversy.
Lee said that with the A-G's announcement, he now had an iron-clad case to sue Jais for wrongly arresting him.
"Shall I do it? Of course, not.
"I forgave Jais a long time ago and have no intention to sue or punish them in any way. The A-G’s announcement is better than any court judgment. There is nothing to be gained from a lawsuit except revenge and a sense of satisfaction. That is un-Christian.
Lee Min Choon
"I call on Christians to forgive Jais as they were just doing their job but had wrongly interpreted the law. Nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes, let us forgive them just as Jesus Christ forgave us."
Lee also called on Jais to show the same spirit of goodwill and return the seized Bibles quickly.
"I also hope that they implement the necessary measures in the administration to avoid repetition of such incidences."
Earlier today, the A-G in a statement brought an end to this contentious issue when he said Jais had erred in seizing the Bibles.
He also said that investigations proved that the Bibles in Malay and Iban languages were not a threat to national security.
The issue began on January 2 when a Jais team raided the BSM offices in Damansara Kim and seized 321 Malay and Iban Bibles.
Lee and office manager Sinclair Wong were detained and taken to the police station. They were released on bail.
Last month, Lee had said that Jais refused to return the seized Bibles, as doing so would be an admission that they erred in both deed and manner.
"Returning the Bibles will amount to an admission that Jais was wrong in carrying out the raid and seizure, and that they wrongly arrested BSM officers and wrongly interpreted the law," Lee had said in a blog posting.
He said the return of the 321 Bibles would be a massive blow to Jais's image and prestige.
"Too many sins have been committed. It is better to hold on to the Bibles and tell the public that they are waiting for the A-G to say something.
"Hopefully, if they hold out long enough, everybody will forget about it," Lee said.
Jais conducted the raid under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation among Muslims) Enactment 1988, which was passed by the then-Barisan Nasional state government.
It prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya'Allah” (God willing). –TMI
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