Azmin pleads for ‘closure’ on seized Bibles issue

Selangor Menteri Besar says “the issue has been resolved. Do not cause provocation.”

KAJANG: Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali has pleaded with the media not to re-open old wounds by reviving the issue of 351 copies of the Bible in Malay and Iban seized earlier this year in his state by religious authorities and released recently for shipment to Sarawak, their intended destination.

“The issue has been resolved. Do not cause provocation,” said Azmin, in an appeal to the media with no reference to readers in the social media, on the sidelines of a gathering at the Holy Family Church here.

It was a joint celebration to mark Deepavali and Christmas.

He was commenting on media reports that Christians and non-Christians alike throughout the country are upset and furious that the seized copies of the Bible which were returned by the Selangor Sultan on Nov 14 have been desecrated and defaced with a warning.

It’s not known who desecrated and defaced them.

The warning, which has since gone viral on social media, reads in English in the Malay and Iban Bibles: “Strictly for non-Muslims usage only and shall not be published or used in any part of the state of Selangor pursuant to section 9 (1) Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988.”

The warning is also in Malay above the English version.

It was learnt that the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) would be issuing a statement on the matter in response to demands from readers in FaceBook.

BSM imports and distributes Malay Bibles throughout the country. It’s not known whether the BSM, whose President is Bishop Ng Moon Hing, knew of the desecration and defacing then. The BSM did, in a statement, thank the Selangor Sultan for the return of the Bibles.

The Bibles were seized by Selangor religious authorities from the BSM bookshop in Petaling Jaya earlier this year.

They were handed over on Nov 14 by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to the Association of Churches of Sarawak (ACS) in a ceremony witnessed by the Sultan of Selangor. Azmin was also present. Rev Archbishop Bolly Lapok is ACS chairman.

This is a repeat incident.

In Mar 2011, the Home Ministry similarly not only stamped but serialized 5,000 copies of the Bible which were seized on 20 Mar, 2009 after holding the consignment worth RM70,000 at Kuching Port for two years.

The BSM then took the view, in a statement, that the desecrated and defaced Bibles could no longer be sold but would be archived as “heritage for Christians in Malaysia”.

Sarawak, like Sabah, is a majority Christian country. There’s no religion in the Constitutions of the two Borneo nations in line with the Malaysia Agreement 1963, and constitutional documents like the 20 Points and 18 Points.