PETALING JAYA, June 30 ― Following the Registrar of Societies (RoS)'s abrupt postponement of its visit today, the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) maintained that it has not breached any rules or regulations that would have led to such an inspection.
The Selangor RoS had called BSM Honorary Secretary Reverend Mathew K. Punnoose this morning to postpone the visit to an undisclosed date but did not give any reason for doing so.
“BSM knows that it is not carrying on any activities in contravention of the Societies Act or any regulation made thereunder or any of its rules as the object of the Society has always been to provide and make available Bibles in various languages,” Mathew said in a brief statement on behalf of the BSM executive committee today.
He also said that the BSM was informed of RoS' planned inspection at 1pm today through an email notice dated June 23, before later being told that it was a “routine check”.
In the email notice sighted by Malay Mail Online, the RoS informed BSM of the two-hour inspection under Section 63 of the Societies Acts 1966 and asked the society to prepare its membership roll, meeting minutes, accounts and other related documents for inspection.
Under Section 63 of the Act, the registrar, assistant registrar or a registration officer has the power to enter, search and inspect a society’s premises, books, accounts, minutes of meetings and other related documents.
The particular section, however, states that such powers are invoked if the registrar “has reason to believe that any society is carrying on activities in contravention of any provision of this Act or any regulations made thereunder or any of its rules” and after notice has been given.
BSM also confirmed today that it has requested the Selangor RoS to provide it with reasons for the visit, pointing out that Section 63 does not provide for a routine check and that this would be the “first time” such an inspection is made since BSM was formed in 1984.
Yesterday, a BSM member who declined to be named told Malay Mail Online that the society had already dutifully sent in its minutes, membership list and accounts as required.
Last January, the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) carried out a surprise raid of BSM’s Selangor office and seized over 300 copies of the bible in Malay and Iban, using a 1988 Selangor state law that prohibits non-Muslims from using “Allah” to refer to God.
The bibles were returned to the Christian community last November, albeit stamped in red with a warning that they were not to be published or used anywhere in Selangor.
