KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Instead of harping on the past, Pakatan Rakyat (PR) can rectify matters by amending the Selangor 1988 law that was used by state Islamic authorities to seize Malay and Iban-language bibles, MCA said today.
MCA religious harmony bureau chairman Datuk Ti Lian Ker also said that Selangor DAP chief Tony Pua should have stood by his party colleagues and Selangor assemblymen — Yeo Bee Yin (Damansara Utama), Rajiv Rishyakaran (Bukit Gasing) and Lau Weng San (Kampung Tunku) — instead of saying that the trio’s call for the amendment was not PR’s stand.
“Given the call by the three DAP state assemblymen, is it not timely that a review of the said enactment be done now?” Ti said in a statement today.
“Tony Pua should not ruminate about the past but come up with a solution. As it is, it was the Bible Society of Malaysia’s (BSM) president Lee Min Choon who absolved Putrajaya from the fiasco and urged the Selangor state government to uphold the 10-point solution,” he added.
Pua, who is the Petaling Jaya Utara MP, said yesterday that MCA was “complicit” in the passing of the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment in 1988 during the then Barisan Nasional (BN) administration.
Jais had confiscated more than 300 copies of the Al-Kitab and Bup Kudus from BSM on January 2 under the state law that places a blanket ban on non-Muslims from using 35 Arabic words and phrases in their faith, including “Allah” (God), “Nabi” (prophet), “Injil” (gospel) and “Insya’Allah” (God willing).
Ti also questioned why the Selangor government did not order an immediate release of the Christian holy books, but instead announced that the Home Ministry must first verify that the holy scriptures fulfil the conditions outlined in Putrajaya’s 10-point solution.
“We wish to reiterate — why not release them immediately?” said Ti.
