From The Malaysian Insider
A "blanket ban" on the use of Bahasa Malaysia Bibles in Selangor is unrealistic, the Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) said today.
CFM chairman Rev Dr Eu Hong Seng said this in a statement in response to the stamping of the Bahasa Malaysia and Iban-language Bibles with a warning that they were not to be used anywhere in the state.
"This blanket ban on the use of the Bahasa Malaysia Bibles in the state of Selangor is unrealistic. There are thousands of Sabahans and Sarawakians who reside and work in the state of Selangor besides the thousands of West Malaysian Christians who are conversant only in our national language," Eu said.
His statement follows another by the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) yesterday*, which angrily denounced the move by Selangor religious authorities to stamp the warning on more than 300 copies of the AlKitab and Bup Kudus (Iban-language bible), which were released recently after being held for 10 months since their seizure from the BSM bookshop in Petaling Jaya in early January.
Eu was referring to the blanket ban mentioned in a press statement by Mais issued on November 14, when the seized Bibles were released, which had addressed the Association of Churches of Sarawak (ACS) instead of the peninsula-based BSM.
"CFM views with great concern the final paragraph of the Mais’ statement which reads '... and hope that the distribution as well as the printing of Bibles that contain the word 'Allah' is no longer done in the State of Selangor, as it is an offence under the Non-Islamic Religious Enactment (Control Development Among Muslims) 1988',” Eu said.
He said the then Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur Tan Sri Murphy Pakiam and CFM had both previously stated that the usage of AlKitab, which contain the word Allah, would continue together with Christian services for the BM-speaking people residing in the peninsula.
"Forcing the discontinuation of the use of AlKitab by Malaysian Christians and those ministering to them would go against the Federal Constitution provision of Article 11 on Freedom of Religion, in which Clause (3)(a) states that 'every religious group has the right to manage its own religious affairs'.
"It would be a gross injustice to Malaysian Christians whose only language for worship and for their Holy Bible is Bahasa Malaysia and which has been in use for centuries," he added.
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[Editor's note: *The BSM statement is signed by its President and Anglican Bishop of West Malaysia The Rt Revd Ng Moon Hing.]