Selangor response to Jais raid on church is pathetic, says Ambiga
(MM) – Datuk Ambiga Sreenevasan has called the Selangor government’s response to yesterday’s shocking raid and seizure of bibles non-existent or at best weak.
The former chairman of polls reform group Bersih’s remarks on Twitter today comes after Sallehen Mukhyi, who holds the state religious affairs portfolio, said the raid, which led to the seizure of Malay-language and Iban bibles, was never discussed with him.
He had also pointed out today that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had forgotten to inform the state administration about the raid.
Sallehan had also said that Jais did not just take its orders from the state government but also from the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais), which means the order comes straight from the Sultan.
Ambiga, a well-respected lawyer and rights activist, said the Selangor state government’s response was “pathethic.”
“Why is Selangor State Govt’s response on Jais incident non existent or at best, weak? Hiding behind jurisdiction as an excuse is pathetic,” she tweeted today,
Earlier, local churches said the shocking raid and seizure of bibles by Selangor Islamic authorities was a violation of the Christians’ constitutional right to freedom of religion and an “aggressive attack” on interfaith ties in Malaysia.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), which represents virtually all of the churches nationwide, also dubbed the controversial enforcement action by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) yesterday as abusive and discrimination against Christians.
“This unconscionable conduct on the part of Jais and the federal police is not just an authoritarian abuse of power and an act of harassment against Christians in Malaysia.
“It is also a blatant and aggressive attack on the moral and multi-cultural fabric of our society which values inter-communal harmony and utmost respect for the sanctity of each other’s religious beliefs and books,” the CFM said in a two-page statement today.
Yesterday, Jais raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM)’s office in Selangor and seized over 300 copies of the Alkitab and Bup Kudus, the bible in the Malay language and Iban language respectively, while two BSM officials were arrested by the police and told to report to Jais next Friday.
Today, CFM stressed that neither Jais nor any other Muslim religious bodies must gain authority over another religion, saying that it would otherwise render the protection of freedom of religion under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution meaningless.
“To allow one religion to be able to monitor and regulate how another religion is to be practiced is a distasteful recipe for disaster, and a contradiction of the moderation of which the prime minister speaks so frequently abroad,” it said.
Earlier in the statement, CFM also pointed out that the raid and seizure had taken place despite the 10-point solution, a Cabinet decision in 2011 that assured Christians that they would be allowed to print and distribute bibles in the Malay and indigenous languages.
“The unwarranted actions on the part of Jais, aided and abetted by the police, are in absolute breach of the Cabinet’s 10-points solution announced in April 2011 which stated that Christians can import, print and distribute the Al-Kitab under certain conditions, all of which have been complied with by BSM,” it said.
It then urged the prime minister and the Cabinet to “uphold” the federal government’s “word and commitment” to ensure that the Christian community’s rights under the Federal Constitution “are not violated and trampled upon by state-level religious officers with the complicity of the Federal police”.
The bibles seized yesterday contain the word “Allah” but BSM said its customers are not just the churches in Sabah and Sarawak, but also Sabahan and Sarawakian Christians, Orang Asli churches and other Malay-speaking Christians in the peninsula.
It is understood that Jais’ actions were taken under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 that prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including the word for God, “Allah”.
This Sunday, the Christian community in Selangor is also set to come under further duress as Muslim groups plan to rally outside two Selangor churches, while Umno Selangor has threatened a state-wide protest outside churches over a Catholic priest’s insistence that Catholic churches will not abide by a reported Jais directive to stop using “Allah”.
Temperatures have risen of late over the so-called “Allah” row that remains unresolved four years after it shocked the nation and led to the worst religious strife in the country’s history.
The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church over its right to print the word “Allah” in the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.
Christians make up about 10 per cent of the Malaysian population, or 2.6 million. Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and are largely based in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.
