NUCC should have urged Jais to return seized bibles, says MCA

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 7 — The National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) should have sought for Selangor's Islamic authorities to return the over 300 copies of Malay language bibles seized last week instead of simply expressing “regret” over the action, MCA's religious harmony bureau said today.

While commending the newly-formed council for categorising the Selangor Islamic Religious Department's (Jais) raid last Thursday on the Bible Society Malaysia (BSM) as “blatant disregard of the government's 10-point solution”, the MCA panel also said it should have unequivocally censured the department.

“However, I wish to alert that the NUCC should have taken a tougher and firmer stand by openly declaring that Jais’ methods were 'wrong' and proposing measures for Jais to undertake to correct the debacle they have created, rather than refraining with the explanation that NUCC 'cannot blame one child when something goes wrong.'

“As it is, the public is outraged against Jais’ use of force. NUCC could also have recommended that the confiscated Scripture be returned,” Datuk Ti Lian Ker, chairman of the bureau, said in a statement today.

In its inaugural meeting yesterday, the NUCC had labelled as “regrettable” the Jais raid on the Christian bookshop that saw the department carting away over 300 copies of the AlKitab Malay language bible and the Bup Kudus Iban version.

Police accompanying Jais during the raid also arrested two BSM officials.

When asked if Jais had erred in its decision, NUCC chairman Tan Sri Samsuddin Osman said the council could be seen as taking sides in the contentious issue.

“We have chosen these words with much deliberation. You must understand that the NUCC cannot take a partisan stand.”

“We just say, ‘Look, this is something regrettable, it should not happen again,’” he told reporters yesterday.

Ti expressed his full support, however, for the council's call yesterday for Putrajaya to honour the 10-point solution issued in 2011 allowing Christians the continued use of “Allah” in the Malay-language bibles.

He said the NUCC's remarks should be interpreted by all religious authorities as a call to cease acts of “high-handedness” and to instead use delicacy in their enforcement, pointing out that the right to religious freedom was enshrined in Article 11(3)(a) of the Federal Constitution.

“In this regard, I reiterate my call to JAIS to immediately return all Al-Kitabs and Bub Kudus seized to BSM,” Ti said.

Prior to the 2011 Sarawak state election, the Cabinet issued the so-called 10-point solution that allowed Christians in the two Borneo states to keep using “Allah” in the AlKitab Malay language bibles. 

But Jais’ insistence now on enforcing the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 has now muddied the issue.

The state law, passed by the then Barisan Nasional state government, prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah”, “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).

Temperatures have risen of late over the so-called “Allah” row that remains unresolved four years after it shocked the nation and led to the worst religious strife in the country’s history.

The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church over its right to print the word “Allah” in the Herald’s Bahasa Malaysia section is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before deciding on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.