15,000 copies of the Bible seized -Please Reinstated 20/18 Agreement & Islam is not Official Religion For Sabah Sarawak

Thursday, 29 October 2009 19:38

KUALA LUMPUR - Malaysian authorities have seized some 15,000 bibles imported from Indonesia because they use the word "Allah" as a translation for God which is banned here, a church leader said Thursday.
"The church uses the bible and it is part of the worshipper's life. There is no reason why it should be confiscated," said Reverend Hermen Shastri (left), general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia.

"The bibles are used in the church," he said, dismissing suggestions by Islamic officials that they could be used to help convert Muslims who make up some 60 percent of the 27 million population.
Shastri said the latest confiscation happened in September when airport authorities in Sarawak seized 10,000 copies of the Indonesian-language bibles which feature the disputed word "Allah".
Another 5,000 copies were confiscated in March, he said.
"The reason given for the detention of the Scriptures was because they contain banned words," he said.

Two-year legal battle


The Catholic Church has waged a two-year legal battle with Malaysian authorities over the use of the word "Allah" as a translation for "God" in its newspaper published here.
The Herald newspaper, circulated among the country's 850,000 Catholics, nearly lost its publishing licence last year for using the disputed word in its Malay-language edition.
The government has argued that the word "Allah" should be used only by Muslims, who dominate the population of multicultural Malaysia.
The row is one of a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between Muslim Malays and minority ethnic Chinese and Indians who fear the country is being "Islamised".
Shastri said there was no reason to seize the bibles because the use of the word "Allah" predates Islam.
"The word is not sensitive in Indonesia and the Christians use it in the Middle East. It is mainly driven by other motives ... (to project) the dominance of Islam in Malaysia," he said.
Officials at the Home Ministry, which Shastri said was involved in the seizure, were not immediately available for comment. - AFP

Comment By Bukittunggal.

Religion is one of the important point being considered by our forefather from Sabah and Sarawak before they agreed to join Malaya and Singapore to form Malaysia. That why the first point of the agreement was about religion. According to the agreement :

Point 1: Religion

While there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia there should be no State religion in North Borneo, and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to North Borneo.

The agreement explicitly mentioned that there should be no state religion for North Borneo (to include Sarawak as stated in it 18 Agreement) I guessed. As for the bible confiscated in Kuching Airport, they  were brought-in and to be used in the churches throughout Sarawak. Ministry of Internal Affair should return the bible to the church to avoid any religious crisis in the state. In the past, without the interference from the peninsular, the Christianity majority and muslims followers in sarawak have been living together in harmony.

 To Malaya, Get your hand-off Sarawak!

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Breaking News-Port Kelang Assemblyman Badrul Hisham Quit PKR

"YB Badrul Hisham accompanying by His Wife make an exclusive announcement"

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 29 — Port Klang assemblyman Badrul Hisham Abdullah has quit PKR, citing a loss of faith in the party leadership and unhappiness over financial allocations, in a move that could spark a crisis in the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government.

Badrul Hisham said he would now be a Barisan Nasional (BN) friendly independent lawmaker.
He did not say if he would eventually be joining Umno or any other political party, but he asserted that he would not relinquish his state seat.
His announcement comes just hours after Selangor Mentri besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim had said he wanted the lawmaker to resign as assemblyman for non-performance.
Badrul Hisham won the Port Klang state seat in Election 2008 with 12,397 votes against Barisan Nasional’s Roselinda Abdul Jamil who got 7,990 votes and independent Nazir Mansor with 580.
Early this month, Khalid had said he would decide on Badrul Hisham’s status by the end of October.
Speculation had been rife for months now that Badrul Hisham planned to defect to Umno and controversy has plagued the first-term lawmaker since the general election last year due to complaints by voters in his constituency that he was never around and could not be contacted.
“I was elected by the people and not by the Mentri Besar of Selangor,” said Badrul in a three page statement in response to Khalid’s call for him to quit.
“I am no longer a PKR member but will remain an independent representative supporting Barisan Nasional,” he added.
Khalid had also alleged that Badrul Hisham has been incommunicado and did not respond to the show cause letter sent by the state government.
“For your information I have given my explanation through a letter dated Aug 28 2009,” said Badrul.
He claimed that he had been sidelined by the state government which made it difficult for him to perform his duties.
“The refusal of the PKR-led Selangor government to assist me in coordinating financial allocation for my constituency made me feel marginalised,” said Badrul Hisham.
Badrul Hisham also cited Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s actions in causing his sodomy trial to be postponed several times as another reason for his loss of confidence in PKR.
“I am having doubts on the leadership of Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for not having the courage to face trial for the Saiful Bukhari sodomy case,” said Badrul Hisham.
“He has been avoiding from giving explanation to party members,” he added.
“I take seriously the allegation of moral misconduct against Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim,” he said.

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