The Christian Federation of Malaysia urged the government to lift restrictions on the Bible.
Its vice-chairperson, Eu Hong Seng, said during the Christmas period, “Though special exemption was made for this Bible to be used by Christians in churches, in this modern day and age where almost anything can be accessed on the Internet, it is regrettable that our Holy Scriptures are still seen as ‘prejudicial to the security’ of the country.”
He made the suggestions at a meeting in the Muslim-majority country attended by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. The prime minister has said he wants to do his best to cool racial and religious tension in the country.
Under section 22 of Malaysia’s Internal Security Act, Bibles in Bahasa are considered to be “prejudicial to the national interest and security of the Federation.”
The Singapore-based Straits Times newspaper reported that Malaysia’s Malay Muslims are particularly sensitive about the issue, worrying that children would easily access the Bible in Bahasa if it was readily available. About 60 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million people are Muslims who speak Bahasa Malay.
The issue is particularly sensitive after a government ban on the use of the word “Allah” in the Catholic Herald newspaper. A court is due to rule on that issue in January.
The government had said the word could only be used in conjunction with Islam. The Herald has asked the courts to overturn the ban and to rule that the word “Allah” is not exclusively for Muslims. It says the Arabic word “Allah” referred to God even before Islam and that it has been used for centuries as the word for God in the Malay language.
Ahead of the court decision, the government at the end of December extended the newspaper’s license for another year but allowed it to only publish editions in English, Tamil and Mandarin. It did not allow the newspaper to print a Malay-language edition. The prohibition will remain until the court decision on whether the newspaper can use the word “Allah” in its now banned Malay-language restrictions.
Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and other minorities from mostly ethnic Chinese and Indian populations have in recent years complained that their religious rights have been eroded by increasingly influential Islamists in high positions. Court decisions banning Muslims from embracing other religions as well as the demolition of Hindu temples and other infringements on religious freedoms have angered religious minorities in Malaysia.
