The Sun
by Pauline Wong
by Pauline Wong
PETALING JAYA (March 10, 2011): The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM) is calling for all copies of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia seized by the Home Ministry, including 30,000 copies of Perjanjian Baru, Mazmur dan Amsal or New Testament, Psalms and Proverbs stuck at the Kuching port, to be released.
“We are concerned about the repeated detention of bibles written in our national language, Bahasa Malaysia,” CFM chairman Bishop Ng Moon Hing said.
“The government had given the assurance that the bible in Bahasa Malaysia will be freely available in Sabah and Sarawak, where a large majority of Christians are Malay-speaking.
“They must have access to bibles in Bahasa Malaysia in order to read, comprehend and practise their faith,” he said in a statement today.
On Tuesday, National Evangelical Christian Fellowship secretary-general Sam Ang had claimed that the ministry had confiscated and retained 5,000 copies of the Malay-language Bible at Port Klang since March 2009, despite the Cabinet having approved the release of the consignment.
“We are concerned about the repeated detention of bibles written in our national language, Bahasa Malaysia,” CFM chairman Bishop Ng Moon Hing said.
“The government had given the assurance that the bible in Bahasa Malaysia will be freely available in Sabah and Sarawak, where a large majority of Christians are Malay-speaking.
“They must have access to bibles in Bahasa Malaysia in order to read, comprehend and practise their faith,” he said in a statement today.
On Tuesday, National Evangelical Christian Fellowship secretary-general Sam Ang had claimed that the ministry had confiscated and retained 5,000 copies of the Malay-language Bible at Port Klang since March 2009, despite the Cabinet having approved the release of the consignment.
The most recent to be seized were the copies of Perjanjian Baru, Mazmur dan Amsal, which have been withheld since January.
The Bible Society of Malaysia was reported as saying it will consider legal action against the ministry for the release of the bibles.
However when contacted, the society’s general-secretary Dr Simon Wong denied this and said the society would wait for a firm decision from the ministry on the matter before proceeding further.
“We will wait and pray that the government will be moved to release the bibles,” he told theSun.
On Wednesday, a ministry statement said the bibles had not been confiscated, but were denied entry for not fulfilling ministry requirements. However, it did not elaborate on what the requirements were.
The Bible Society of Malaysia was reported as saying it will consider legal action against the ministry for the release of the bibles.
However when contacted, the society’s general-secretary Dr Simon Wong denied this and said the society would wait for a firm decision from the ministry on the matter before proceeding further.
“We will wait and pray that the government will be moved to release the bibles,” he told theSun.
On Wednesday, a ministry statement said the bibles had not been confiscated, but were denied entry for not fulfilling ministry requirements. However, it did not elaborate on what the requirements were.
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