As polls loom, Sarawak wants BM bibles freed
By The Malaysian Insider
MIRI, March 13 — Sarawak wants the Home Ministry to release all impounded or seized Malay-language bibles immediately as opposition parties scramble to use it as fodder for the state election that is likely to be held next month.
Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan said the state government could not understand the rationale behind such treatment of the Bible or why the Bahasa Malaysia version could not be imported into the country.
“The state government is also willing to print the bibles in Bahasa Malaysia if the ones from Indonesia are not acceptable,” he told reporters here yesterday on the impounding of 30,000 Bibles in Port Klang and Kuching Port.
Chan said the matter has never been a problem in Sarawak and he could not understand why those responsible “were being so difficult and causing unnecessary controversies and ill-feelings among Malaysians”.
“In Sarawak, we have never faced such controversies before. In this state, we have mosques and churches built side-by-side. In our coffee shops, we have Chinese and Malay food sellers operating next to each other. We don’t have any problem with race or religion.”
The Home Ministry has said the bibles were not allowed because they did not meet its terms and conditions. The bibles were printed in Indonesia.
Yesterday, Chan said state government leaders would discuss the matter at the next state Cabinet meeting and also bring up the issue to the federal Cabinet and for the attention of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak.
Najib and other Barisan Nasional (BN) leaders are expected to be in Sarawak later this week for several events ahead of a possible announcement of the state legislature dissolution later this month.
Speculation has Chief Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud calling for snap polls in early April. Government sources say the bible controversy will affect BN in the polls.
While BN is in no danger of losing the government, PR is hoping to deny Taib a two-thirds majority victory in his 30th year in power.
“PR will use the bible issue and hopefully can get more than one third of the 71 state seats. We want to show that the 2008 political tsunami can cross the South China Sea into Sarawak,” an opposition leader told The Malaysian Insider.
However, Chan played down the potential political repercussions during the coming state election, saying it was an issue of justice.
