| The Christian community in Malaysia is deeply hurt that the Government has desecrated and defaced the Bible.
Initial news that the Government had agreed to release copies of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia which had been impounded in both Port Klang and Kuching was greeted with joy.
However, this joy soon turned into grief and mourning when it was discovered that the release was subject to certain conditions.
Each copy has to be stamped with a serial number, the official seal of the relevant department of the Bahagian Kawalan Penerbitan Dan Teks Al-Quran, and the words “by order of the Minister of Home Affairs”.
This means that the Bahasa Malaysia Bible is now treated as a restricted item, and the Word of God has been made subject to the control of man. This is wholly offensive to Christians.
Any person who respects the Holy Scriptures of any religion would be appalled by this action.
The Christian community in Malaysia has always acted in good faith and with great patience to find amicable solutions without compromising our fundamental beliefs. But that good faith has not been reciprocated by the Government. It is the Government that has moved the “goal posts” over the years through a systematic imposition of unreasonable conditions and restrictions.
We have never agreed to any wording to be endorsed on Bibles to say that it is only for Christians. The 1982 order issued under the Internal Security Act 1960 did not state that any form of words had to be endorsed on any copy of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia.
The latest letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs dated 15 March 2011 is therefore a set of new conditions imposed on the release of the impounded Bibles which is wholly unacceptable to us. We will never accede to any desecration of the Bible since the Word of God to us is sacred.
We also wholly reject the Government’s contention that the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia is prejudicial to the national interest and security of Malaysia, and treated as a subversive publication.
As Christians we wonder how our Holy Scriptures can become a national security threat where countless number of us find it helpful in bringing hope and healing to broken lives and homes which we can testify to. Besides it commands us to be better citizens of our beloved nation.
We therefore insist that the Government withdraw the conditions imposed on the release of the Bibles impounded in Port Klang and Kuching. Given that copies may already have been endorsed, we will NOT take delivery of those endorsed copies.
We call on all Malaysians, from Semenanjung and in Sabah and Sarawak, and from all walks of life, to come together in unity to reject any attempt to restrict the freedom of religion in our beloved country.
We invite all Christians in Malaysia to remain calm and to continue to pray for a dignified and respectful resolution of this issue. As Sunday 20 March 2011 marks the 2nd anniversary of the impounding of the Bibles at Port Klang, we call on all those in Malaysia and elsewhere to dedicate themselves to a day of prayer and quiet reflection.
Bishop Ng Moon Hing
Chairman and the Executive Committee,
Christian Federation of Malaysia
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Please forgive me if I am naive to think that Malaysia being a multi racial and multi religion practicing country whereby major religion follower are guarantee by the Constitution for free practicing. Mutual respect are expected to be there whereby various people are seem mixing around at various place of worship and eating place. Everyone should be allow to study and understand the fact of various official religion which shall result a better respect for each other. No force should be used to restrict others who are willing to learn more about others religion.
What is happening are all those who used the religion for their own political gain are abusing their position both in the ruling and opposition.
The best solution is not to allow politician to come into the religion matter. Let the inter faith religious people without any political motive to handle matter concerning religion maybe we could live better here in Malaysia.
Well, apparently the law that is being used to disallow the use of Allah is based on an Act issued by the Selangor State Government.
Repeal it!!
After all, PAS does not object to Allah being used.
That law was passed by UMNO and supported by MCA, MIC and Gerakan. Firght now it would seem like MCA and Gerakan too object to UMNO’s actions.
I would love to see them carry it through by voting together with the PR government of Selangor. Would also be nice to see how Hassan Ali votes as well.
As for the rest of you, if this is more than just a political opportunity to score points, you would move for that law to be repealed. When repealed I wonder how the appeal to the Court of Appeal will proceed.
Ng Moon Hing has well expressed the concerns of Christian believers concerning the Home Mininstry’s handling of the importation of Scriptures and the arbitrary conditions that it has imposed. As a Christian believer (and avid reader of Malaysian news), I want to join in prayer that this issue and others can be resolved in a right way, remembering that God is indeed still on His throne.
To: [email protected]
Dear joceline,
tq for article in focus yesterday.we are all for change as compared to now.however,
it must be for the better.
dsai is certainly the agent for change.that being said,he has since lost 10 elected
rep,delivers nothing in selangor(showcase of how he would fare running malaysia)and
likely will not win more than 8 seats in sarawak.
what we need is for anwar to step aside and please..tan sri khalid must go.get
the younger guys like yb azmin,tony pua and husam to lead this nation forward.khalid
is real reason for glaring anwar’s incompetence.great beaurecrat like saleh hashim
was lost to this incompetent mb of pkr.khalid is a comic.he couldnt manage sand
mining in selangor and dare want to run water for selangorians!
with libya,earthquake,tsunami and nuclear radiation,anwar is left yelling reformasi
alone! the reformist learnt an expensive lesson when mb pkr throw all their request
for opportunity to contribute in selangor into the waste dust bin.
anwar is a brave and kind leader.he has done his bit.however,to move forward,new
young faces must lead.
cheers.,
ivan
this is because we want to stop the spreading of christians among muslims.Even it is forbidden by federal law of malaysia,see article 11(4).