Putrajaya sends bible-seizure hot potato back to Selangor

(MM) – The Cabinet will not intervene over the controversial seizure of Malay and Iban language bibles in Selangor beyond reiterating its commitment to a 10-point solution in the on-going “Allah” row.

Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the Cabinet agreed that there is nothing the federal government was authorised to do in the case, as the law is clear that religious issues came under the individual states and not the federation.

“The Cabinet decided that the issue of the bible seizures is a state matter,” he said when met after speaking at a conference here today.

On January 2, Selangor’s religious authority’s seized Malay and Iban language bibles with the word “Allah”, which the courts deemed was not an integral part of the Christian faith and that it would cause confusion among Muslims.

The 10-point solution, issued by the Najib administration shortly before the Sarawak state election in 2011, allowed for bibles in Malay and indigenous languages to be printed, imported and distributed nationwide with certain conditions imposed for Peninsula Malaysia.