BSM: S’gor exco’s statement on Jais raid puts Christians, churches at risk
Tarani Palani, fz.com
The Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) says the statement by the Selangor executive councillor for Islamic affairs that the Jais raid on BSM was based on standard operating procedures (SOPs) is putting the “Christian community at great risk”.
“Saying that Jais followed SOPs justifies it carrying out such operations next week, next month…(This kind of a statement) treats Christians and the churches in a very precarious manner.
“It is not a solution to the problem that we face,” BSM president Lee Min Choon told a press conference today.
Lee was commenting on executive councillor Sallehen Mukyi’s comments made earlier today after a meeting with Catholic weekly Herald editor Father Lawrence Andrew, Klang MP Charles Santiago and Sri Andalas assemblyperson Dr Xavier Jayakumar.
Sallehen had said that the raid by Jais, the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department, on Jan 2 was in accordance to SOPs, but the procedures will have to be improved to prevent anxiety among the public.
A team of officers from Jais and two policemen raided BSM’s premises in Damansara Utama here and seized some 300 copies of the Bible in the Malay and Iban languages.
Lee and BSM office manager Sinclair Wong were also arrested, and released after their statements were given to the police.
It is not clear what was the exact offence that lead to the seize and arrest.
Lee said today he was arrested under the charge of propagating but was unsure of the details himself.
“Arrested under the charge of propagating I don’t know what…we were not asked any questions in relation to that,” he said.
He pointed out that BSM was merely the sole suppler of Malay language bibles to Malay speaking Christains and nothing more than that.
“We simply supply a range of Bibles in a lot of languages to meet the needs to the one million Malay-speaking Christians in Malaysia. We do not engage in propaganda.
“If we don’t supply these Bibles, they will only be available illegally and Christians don’t like to break the law,” he said.
“Jais should return the Bibles and respect 10-point solution”
Lee, who is a lawyer by profession, confirmed that Jais had not returned any of the seized Bibles and said that the religious department should return them “as soon as possible”.
He said BSM has not considered any legal action yet as it still believes that the problem can be solved amicably.
“We want to act in good nature and good will. We want to offer a hand of friendship instead of showing (our) fists,” he said.
“Jais should also respect the 10-point solution which allows for Christians in the peninsula to use the word Allah,” he said.
Lee said the society did have CCTV footages of the Jais raid but have yet to look at the footage due to a lack of time.
He addedthat BSM was in talks with the federal authorities but declined to be more specific.
The society however has yet to meet Selangor state authorities on the matter, but a meeting with Jais has been scheduled for this Friday.
“No major renovation since 1986”
Also present today was BSM secretary-general Simon Wong, who commented on the Petaling Jaya City Council’s (MBPJ) “harassment” this morning.
Two MBPJ officers were at the BSM premises this morning wanting to search the place for illegal renovations and extensions.
Wong said the office has been around since 1986 and there has been no “breaking of the wall” or other renovations but said that there has been “internal decorations” carried out.
He said the authorities should come with proper documents of authority, if they wished to search the premises.
Jais’ raid on BSM comes after new director of Jais Ahmad Zaharin Mohd Saad, who took over the position this year, said the department would list down churches in Selangor and will ask them to comply with the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
The enactment prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).
However, responding to this, the Herald editor had said that Catholic churches in Selangor would continue to use the word “Allah” in their weekend services in Bahasa Malaysia, which are primarily attended by people from Sabah and Sarawak.
