KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 5 — Alarmed by a shock raid and seizure of over 300 bibles in Malay and Bahasa Iban, Sabah Christian leaders urged the Najib administration to keep to its promises and uphold their constitutional right to freedom of religion to clear the way to lasting interfaith harmony in Malaysia.

Sabah pastor Rev Datuk Jerry Dusing described the Islamic law enforcers’ raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) in Petaling Jaya, Selangor as arbitrary and “very disrespectful to other people’s faith” when the Federal Constitution guarantees Christians the freedom to practise their faith peacefully.

“Jais’s decision to me is tantamount to being disrespectful and without any reference to the good faith gesture by the prime minister,” the head of the Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo (SIB) church told The Malay Mail Online, referring to the Cabinet’s 10-point solution in 2011 which allowed the Christian community to print, import and distribute bibles containing the word “Allah’.

The country’s 2.6 million Christian population, 60 per cent of which is Bumiputera and live in the two Borneo states of Sabah and Sarawak, have been largely unaffected by the interfaith conflict over the word “Allah” in the peninsula.

But a raid last Thursday by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) on the bible distributor’s office, which led to hundreds of bibles in their native languages treated like contraband, have renewed concern among Bumiputera Christians over the long-term practice of their faith.

Following the seizure, the Association of Churches in Sarawak (ACS) likened Jais’s raid to “treason”, adding that it “violates the Federal Constitution and pays total disregard to” the 10-point solution.

“And for those of us in Sabah and Sarawak, we look at this action with great concern because there is the 18-point, 20-point agreement in the formation of Malaysia. What is the long-term implication if we look at the arbitrariness of Jais’s action?” asked Dusing.

The Sabah pastor was referring to the 18-point and 20-point agreements promising religious freedom to Sarawak and Sabah respectively before Malaysia was formed in 1963.

“Of course the ministers have always been telling us that the Herald case is an isolated case, but obviously the Jais action shows very clearly that the intention is much wider,” he added.

Despite the government’s previous assurance that the Court of Appeal’s decision last October — which upheld a ban on the word “Allah” in Catholic weekly, Herald — would not affect the Christian community in east Malaysia, the Jais raid has cast doubt on the extent of the ruling’s applicability.

Sabah church leader Bishop Dr Thomas Tsen said he was sad and disappointed over Jais’s actions, pointing out that it had happened despite the guarantee of the freedom to print bibles under the 10-point solution.

“All this while we have no problems, Sabah can get supply from the Bible Society to print for us those copies (of Alkitab),” said the Basel church leader, adding that the churches were supporting the government’s promotion of the national language Bahasa Malaysia.

A Muslim demonstrator stands outside Malaysia’s Court of Appeal, along with others, in Putrajaya, outside Kuala Lumpur October 14, 2013. — Reuters pic

According to Tsen, the bible in the Kadazandusun language — used by one of Sabah’s indigenous tribes — does not contain the word “Allah”, but over 60 per cent of the Sabahan Christians use the word in their weekly Bahasa Malaysia services.

He similarly noted the prime minister’s assurance last year that Sabah and Sarawak would not be affected by the Herald case, while urging the public to pray for a “peaceful and respectful resolution”.

“We, as a church, we want peace to prevail, we want justice to prevail. We want to be treated as a Malaysian citizen who is being treated fair, with fairness that everybody can enjoy.

“We pray, continue to pray for our country, for our prime minister, for his leadership to really see how to take wise, respectful and fair actions to everybody,” said Tsen, who is also the Sabah Council of Churches president.

Esther Golingi, the leader of a grassroots movement of Christian leaders from the native tribes of Kadazandusun and Murut in Sabah, said Jais’s raid was an “unlawful interference” with the constitutional right to practise and regulate one’s own faith, noting that this incident has affected “all Malaysians”.

“We are all Malaysians under one country and one law. There’s no two sets of law,” the Perpaduan Anak Negeri Sabah (PAN) chairperson told The Malay Mail Online in an apparent show of solidarity for those in the Peninsula Malaysia, where some Muslims claim the word ‘Allah’ was exclusive to Islam.

“With this episode, there is an urgent need to uphold freedom of religion,” she added.

She expressed PAN’s sadness “that this happened right in front of our eyes where authorities are taking the law into their own hand”, before asking the government’s assurance for religious freedom.

“Now, where is the 10-point solution, the Constitution and the Malaysia agreement? We the Anak Negeri demand an answer from Prime Minister Najib Razak and his Cabinet for the assurance of religious freedom to us,” she said.

On Thursday, BSM said its customers are not limited to the churches in Sabah and Sarawak, but also include Sabahan and Sarawakian Christians, Orang Asli churches and other Malay-speaking Christians in the peninsula.

Christians make up about 10 per cent of the Malaysian population, or 2.6 million. Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and are largely based in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.