KUALA LUMPUR, June 11 ― The Attorney-General's (AG) decision to close the case on a batch Malay- and ethnic-language bibles seized earlier this year is affirmation that the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) did  no wrong, said the organisation's former president.

Lee Min Choon, who led  the group when religious authorities in Selangor raided their premises on January 2, said the decision vindicated their position that the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) had made a “terrible mistake”.

“With the AG’s announcement, I now have an iron-clad case to sue Jais for wrongly arresting me. Shall I do it? Of course not,” he said in a statement in an immediate response to AG Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail's announcement earlier today.

“I forgave Jais a long time ago and have no intention to sue them or to punish them in any way. The AG’s announcement is better than any court judgment. There is nothing to be gained from a lawsuit except revenge and a sense of satisfaction. This is unchristian,” Lee added.

Lee admitted that the past six months before Abdul Gani announced his decision today had been a “trying experience”, but urged Christians in the country to forgive and forget and focus on upholding peace and harmony.

“I call on Christians to forgive Jais. They were doing their job but they had wrongly interpreted the law. No one is perfect. Everybody makes mistakes.

“Let us forgive them just as Christ forgave us,” he said, while also urging Jais to return the bibles as soon as possible and take the necessary steps to make sure such an incident is not repeated.

Earlier, Abdul Gani in explaining his decision said the 321 copies of Malay- and Iban-language bibles seized in the raid were not “controlled items” and did not constitute a national security issue.

He said in a statement that Jais would now take the “next step” in accordance with the law, though it remains unclear what this meant.

On January 2, Jais sent a team of 20 religious officials and police officers to raid BSM's Selangor office, in an operation to enforce a ban on the use of the Arabic word “Allah”, which translate to God, by non-Muslims under the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.

The raid came after a court ruled in October that the Arabic word was exclusive to Muslims, most of whom are Malays, the majority ethnic group in the country.

That ruling overturned a court decision that allowed a Roman Catholic newspaper printed in Bahasa Malaysia to use the word “Allah”.

The seizure heightened concerns that religious authorities, which issue rulings for Muslims and operate alongside conventional courts, now have more legal muscle.

BSM said in April it will move its headquarters to the federal government-ruled Kuala Lumpur to get “better protection” and avoid future bible seizures by religious authorities.

BSM said it will also stop importing bibles through Selangor’s Port Klang.

It said it will send the bibles through Penang or directly to east Malaysia where most Christians who prefer Malay-language bibles live.