Show Mais, Jais who’s boss, former bible society chief tells Selangor

(Malay Mail Online) – The former president of the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) urged today the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Selangor government to strip the state Islamic authorities of their enforcement powers, arguing that the religious council and its officers were overstepping their bounds to police other faiths.

Lee Min Choon claimed there was now a “crisis of confidence” in Selangor after the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) refused to return the hundreds of bibles seized from the BSM’s office in Petaling Jaya earlier this year despite orders from the state government and advice from federal authorities.

“They answer to no one. They have taken upon themselves to be infallible interpreters of the law to the extent that they reject the decision of the AG,” he said in his malaysianbible.net blog post, referring to the Attorney-General by his initials.

Lee said that the refusal showed the state Islamic council and the department were openly undermining the federal government lawyer’s authority as the final arbiter of all criminal investigations and prosecutions.

“This incident have demonstrated the folly of appointing officers of one religion to police adherents of other religions,” he added.

Lee called on the state government to protect the people of Selangor from “an uncontrollable department”, saying it could do so by revoking the 1999 gazette notification that appointed Mais and Jais officials as enforcement officers.

The lawyer said under the 1988 state law, the Islamic religious enforcement officers are appointed by the state Ruler, on the advice of the state executive council (exco).

He added that the exco could also similar advise the sultan to revoke the appoints of the Mais and Jais officials on the same basis.

“It is very clear that the job of enforcement should be given to secular authorities like the police to prevent religious bias from perverting the course of justice,” he said.

Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and Islamic Religious Department (Jais) are now seeking a court ruling, which will enable them to dispose the Malay-, and Iban-language bibles they had seized on January 2.

Mais has consistently said they will not return the bibles, claiming the AG erred by deciding not to pursue charges in the case.

Mais reiterated that Jais, which comes under the council’s purview, will not adhere to the directive issued by the Selangor government because the state had “no power” in the matter.

Mais insisted that there are grounds to “prosecute” BSM under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

Lee further warned in his blog post that if no action were taken, the Islamic religious council and department it controlled will continue to defy the law “until their exhibit rooms are filled with seized bibles”.

“Christians and churches will live in fear of Jais,” he said.