SHAH ALAM, April 16 — Facing pressure from his own political allies over his inaction over a state authority’s seizure of Christian bibles, Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim today held up the state legal advisor’s counsel on the matter as his defence.

Khalid, who was earlier criticised by Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim for failing to do more in the controversy, said his administration was told by the state legal advisor that it could not order the release of the bibles seized by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (JAIS).

“The advice is that we need to delay our decision until we can solve this matter with the Attorney-General’s (AG) office,” he told reporters at the sidelines of the state assembly here.

He repeated the Selangor exco’s previous decision to instruct the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) to contact the AG directly to request for the bibles’ return.

“Just like I said, I think we will have to ask the Bible Society to liaise with the AG. But I think we will do our own initiative to discuss with the AG to resolve this issue,” he said.

Khalid also said the Selangor government was acting “within the law”, stressing that it was bound to uphold a state law that had been passed when the state was under Barisan Nasional (BN)’s rule.

“That’s more important for us to make sure we have to work within framework of enactment that has been passed — not during our time of course — and trying to resolve the issues,” he said.

In response to DAP Puchong MP Gobind Singh’s questioning of his leadership capabilities over the state’s handling of the January bible seizure, Khalid again indicated that his decisions were restricted by legal considerations and other state-related departments.

“I am carrying out a duty and as someone who leads a state, I must take into account the legal interests and administration that needs to take into account the role of Jais and Mais in the work that we do,” he said, referring to the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais).

Asked if the controversy may erode the support of non-Malays and urban voters in Selangor the ruling Pakatan Rakyat (PR), Khalid said: “I’m not sure but I think we will do our best to resolve the issue in the most amicable way”.

Earlier today, Anwar said Khalid should have taken a tougher stance and intervened in the bible seizure row to ensure a fairer outcome for both Muslims and Christians in Selangor.

The PKR advisor said the Khalid administration could have returned the over 300 Malay-language and Iban-language bibles confiscated by Jais in January to the BSM with the condition that they were not distributed to Muslims.

In a statement today, Gobind claimed that Khalid had “displayed a total lack of interest and political will” in solving the three-month-old impasse, suggesting that it led to the BSM’s decision yesterday to abandon the state to seek better protection of religious freedom elsewhere.

The DAP lawmaker said that the manner in which Khalid dealt with the matter demonstrated a failure in Pakatan Rakyat’s pledge to uphold the rights of minorities in a multi-cultural, multi-racial and multi-religious Selangor.

“Situations like these, needless to say, will cost Pakatan dearly in the next general elections. This is precisely the reason why many have expressed great concern about Khalid’s leadership in Selangor,” Gobind said.

Yesterday BSM announced its decision to relocate its headquarters from Selangor to Kuala Lumpur, citing its disappointment with the state government’s decision not to intervene in the seizure of its bibles.

BSM president Lee Min Choon said the federal government has given “better protection” to the society’s operations, and has even upheld the Cabinet’s 10-point solution to the “Allah” row by allowing free movement of its bible shipments.