The release of the material would depend on the pastor involved proving that he had a scheduled flight to Sabah.
FMT
KUALA LUMPUR: Religious items including CDs seized last Sat at KLIA2 from a Christian pastor on the way home to Sabah from Medan, Northern Sumatra, will be released if certain conditions are met.
“We are trying to ascertain if he was bringing it to Semenanjung or taking it to Sabah and if he’s on transit, why was it (the material) in the main terminal? asked Hashimah Nik Jaafar who heads the Home Ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Text Unit. “We are trying to get verification from Customs and the person involved.”
She was stressing in a media update that the Home Ministry doesn’t confiscate Christian material if they are meant for Sabah and Sarawak. “So we have to determine whether these books and CDs were really meant for Sabah and Sarawak or they were being brought into the peninsula,” she added.
She explained that the procedures for import of Christian material into the peninsula and Borneo were different.
In the case of Borneo, there’s no need to seek written approval from the Home Ministry.
For the peninsula, importers of such material would have to seek written approval from the Home Ministry. However, no such approval would be given. Instead, the Home Ministry would write back to say that a certain number of the materials can be brought in.
Revisiting the seizure last Sat, Hashimah belaboured the point that the release of the material would depend on the pastor involved proving that he had a scheduled flight to Sabah.
“If the person was really taking the material to Sabah, he has to produce his air ticket. We would release the material to him when he was leaving KLIA,” she claimed.
Maklin Masiau, the pastor at the centre of the storm, wrote in a FaceBook posting: “Even though I pleaded with them not to seize my things with all kinds of concrete reasons, they were steadfast in seizing them. Their main reason for the seizure was that the books and the CDs contained the word Allah.”
“I will follow up on the seizure according to the required procedures and believe a settlement can be reached,” he stressed.
He has vowed to take the Home Ministry to Court, if necessary, on the matter. He was advised by Customs to deal with the Home Ministry to seek the return of the items seized from him.
“I know the football game has just started,” wrote Maklin on his Facebook page, indicating that he was prepared for the long drawn process of getting his materials back from the authorities. “I have been cheated as a Sabahan to practise my religion as guaranteed under the Malaysia Agreement.”
Maklin was in Kuala Lumpur enroute to Kota Kinabalu from Medan in Northern Sumatra where he had bought the CDs, costing RM 10,000, as Christmas gifts for his church, Bethel Mawar Saron.
KUALA LUMPUR: Religious items including CDs seized last Sat at KLIA2 from a Christian pastor on the way home to Sabah from Medan, Northern Sumatra, will be released if certain conditions are met.
“We are trying to ascertain if he was bringing it to Semenanjung or taking it to Sabah and if he’s on transit, why was it (the material) in the main terminal? asked Hashimah Nik Jaafar who heads the Home Ministry’s Publications Control and Al-Quran Text Unit. “We are trying to get verification from Customs and the person involved.”
She was stressing in a media update that the Home Ministry doesn’t confiscate Christian material if they are meant for Sabah and Sarawak. “So we have to determine whether these books and CDs were really meant for Sabah and Sarawak or they were being brought into the peninsula,” she added.
She explained that the procedures for import of Christian material into the peninsula and Borneo were different.
In the case of Borneo, there’s no need to seek written approval from the Home Ministry.
For the peninsula, importers of such material would have to seek written approval from the Home Ministry. However, no such approval would be given. Instead, the Home Ministry would write back to say that a certain number of the materials can be brought in.
Revisiting the seizure last Sat, Hashimah belaboured the point that the release of the material would depend on the pastor involved proving that he had a scheduled flight to Sabah.
“If the person was really taking the material to Sabah, he has to produce his air ticket. We would release the material to him when he was leaving KLIA,” she claimed.
Maklin Masiau, the pastor at the centre of the storm, wrote in a FaceBook posting: “Even though I pleaded with them not to seize my things with all kinds of concrete reasons, they were steadfast in seizing them. Their main reason for the seizure was that the books and the CDs contained the word Allah.”
“I will follow up on the seizure according to the required procedures and believe a settlement can be reached,” he stressed.
He has vowed to take the Home Ministry to Court, if necessary, on the matter. He was advised by Customs to deal with the Home Ministry to seek the return of the items seized from him.
“I know the football game has just started,” wrote Maklin on his Facebook page, indicating that he was prepared for the long drawn process of getting his materials back from the authorities. “I have been cheated as a Sabahan to practise my religion as guaranteed under the Malaysia Agreement.”
Maklin was in Kuala Lumpur enroute to Kota Kinabalu from Medan in Northern Sumatra where he had bought the CDs, costing RM 10,000, as Christmas gifts for his church, Bethel Mawar Saron.
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