The joy over the release turned to grief and mourning when it emerged they had been stamped with serial numbers and government seals.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Christians today rejected the return of some of the 35,000 bibles seized in a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims, saying they had been “desecrated.”
The government had said the using “Allah” as a translation for “God” in the Malay-language Bibles could cause confusion and encourage conversion, which is illegal for the country’s majority Muslim Malays.
On Tuesday it announced it would release the holy books, which were seized by custom officials at two major ports over the last two years.
But Christian Federation of Malaysia chairman Bishop Ng Moon Hing said the joy over the release turned to “grief and mourning” when it emerged they had been stamped with serial numbers and government seals.
“Each copy has to be stamped with a serial number, the official seal of the relevant department…and the words ‘by order of the Minister of Home Affairs,’” he said in a statement.
Ng said that some of the bibles, all of which use the word “Allah”, had already been stamped without the agreement of the community, which was tantamount to “desecration of the bible.”
“This means that the (Malay-language) bible is now treated as a restricted item, and the Word of God has been made subject to the control of man,” Ng added.
“This is wholly offensive to Christians. Any person who respects the Holy Scriptures of any religion would be appalled by this action.”
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein defended the policy, saying that bibles had been stamped under previous administrations.
“There was no intention to deface the bible… we will not entertain this kind of talk,” he told reporters in Parliament today.
The “Allah” row is one of a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between majority Malays and minorities who fear the country is being “Islamised”.
Malaysia’s Christians, who make up nine percent of the population and many from indigenous groups in Borneo who speak the national language Malay, say they have used the word without incident for centuries.
- AFP
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Christians today rejected the return of some of the 35,000 bibles seized in a dispute over the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims, saying they had been “desecrated.”
The government had said the using “Allah” as a translation for “God” in the Malay-language Bibles could cause confusion and encourage conversion, which is illegal for the country’s majority Muslim Malays.
On Tuesday it announced it would release the holy books, which were seized by custom officials at two major ports over the last two years.
But Christian Federation of Malaysia chairman Bishop Ng Moon Hing said the joy over the release turned to “grief and mourning” when it emerged they had been stamped with serial numbers and government seals.
“Each copy has to be stamped with a serial number, the official seal of the relevant department…and the words ‘by order of the Minister of Home Affairs,’” he said in a statement.
Ng said that some of the bibles, all of which use the word “Allah”, had already been stamped without the agreement of the community, which was tantamount to “desecration of the bible.”
“This means that the (Malay-language) bible is now treated as a restricted item, and the Word of God has been made subject to the control of man,” Ng added.
“This is wholly offensive to Christians. Any person who respects the Holy Scriptures of any religion would be appalled by this action.”
Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein defended the policy, saying that bibles had been stamped under previous administrations.
“There was no intention to deface the bible… we will not entertain this kind of talk,” he told reporters in Parliament today.
The “Allah” row is one of a string of religious disputes that have erupted in recent years, straining relations between majority Malays and minorities who fear the country is being “Islamised”.
Malaysia’s Christians, who make up nine percent of the population and many from indigenous groups in Borneo who speak the national language Malay, say they have used the word without incident for centuries.
- AFP
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