CFM MEDIA STATEMENT
The Christian community in Malaysia is deeply hurt that the Government has desecrated and defaced the Bible.
Initial news that the Government had agreed to release copies of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia which had been impounded in both Port Klang and Kuching was greeted with joy.
However, this joy soon turned into grief and mourning when it was discovered that the release was subject to certain conditions. Each copy has to be stamped with a serial number, the official seal of the relevant department of the Bahagian Kawalan Penerbitan Dan Teks Al-Quran, and the words “by order of the Minister of Home Affairs”.
This means that the Bahasa Malaysia Bible is now treated as a restricted item, and the Word of God has been made subject to the control of man. This is wholly offensive to Christians. Any person who respects the Holy Scriptures of any religion would be appalled by this action.
The Christian community in Malaysia has always acted in good faith and with great patience to find amicable solutions without compromising our fundamental beliefs. But that good faith has not been reciprocated by the Government. It is the Government that has moved the “goal posts” over the years through a systematic imposition of unreasonable conditions and restrictions.
We have never agreed to any wording to be endorsed on Bibles to say that it is only for Christians. The 1982 order issued under the Internal Security Act 1960 did not state that any form of words had to be endorsed on any copy of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia.
The latest letter from the Ministry of Home Affairs dated 15 March 2011 is therefore a set of new conditions imposed on the release of the impounded Bibles which is wholly unacceptable to us. We will never accede to any desecration of the Bible since the Word of God to us is sacred.
We also wholly reject the Government’s contention that the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia is prejudicial to the national interest and security of Malaysia, and treated as a subversive publication.
As Christians we wonder how our Holy Scriptures can become a national security threat where countless number of us find it helpful in bringing hope and healing to broken lives and homes which we can testify to. Besides it commands us to be better citizens of our beloved nation.
We therefore insist that the Government withdraw the conditions imposed on the release of the Bibles impounded in Port Klang and Kuching. Given that copies may already have been endorsed, we will NOT take delivery of those endorsed copies.
We call on all Malaysians, from Semenanjung and in Sabah and Sarawak, and from all walks of life, to come together in unity to reject any attempt to restrict the freedom of religion in our beloved country.
We invite all Christians in Malaysia to remain calm and to continue to pray for a dignified and respectful resolution of this issue. As Sunday 20 March 2011 marks the 2nd anniversary of the impounding of the Bibles at Port Klang, we call on all those in Malaysia and elsewhere to dedicate themselves to a day of prayer and quiet reflection.
Yours sincerely,
Bishop Ng Moon Hing
Chairman and the Executive Committee,
Christian Federation of Malaysia
The Micah Mandate is a Christian-based public interest advocacy ministry that seeks a transformation of our nation through justice, mercy and humility.
March 17th, 2011 at 7:50 pm
Next, in order to further prevent confusing Muslims, the Home Ministry will order that pork carcasses be stamped “Daging Khinzir: untuk makanan bukan Islam sahaja”.
March 18th, 2011 at 9:12 am
My two thoughts on this development:
1. On the one hand, we Christians need to praise God and celebrate that this impoundment of the Bibles and subsequent conditional distribtuion is getting the attention of the whole country and the world.
To non-Christians, there must be something extraordinary and powerful in the Bible that this government is trying to suppress and keep certain people from reading. In fact, there is nothing in the Bible that encourages believers to fight oppressive governments. We are instead called to be law-abiding and pray for authorities. And when it comes to the crunch, we are never to give up our faith above all else.
2. The Internet is full of Bibles and I am sure there is also a Bahasa Bible for free download. Every Malaysian has free access to the Internet and people can legally print free copies. How does the Ministry deal with that? Or will that be also under restriction? All Malaysian bloggers and internet media writers should rally to oppose the latest move to restrict the Bahasa Bible because it is one step by the gov to curtail freedom of information and accessibility to the Internet in future.
March 18th, 2011 at 9:28 am
Shahbaz Bhatti: “I can leave anytime but what about all those who have nowhere to go?..the extremists need to know that Christians are ready to stand up for their faith, that they won’t turn and run or compromise even in the face of persecution or death.”
Leaders of the world, beware:
2011 is the year when tyrants and dictators fall (Egypt and Tunisia)
As God hears our prayers and inner call
To bring down the tyrant’s prison walls.
March 19th, 2011 at 9:06 am
I think it is important to be clear that Christians do not consider the Bible to be dictated by God, like Muslims believe the Koran to have been. For this reason, I submit “desecration” and “defaced” are words which are too strong to describe what has been done to the Bibles.
The issue is about whether the authorities have a right to do what they did, and the underlying basis for their action.
The action of the authorities shows they treat Malays in Malaysia as imbeciles who cannot distinguish between Arabic and Malay.
If in Cairo, the home of Al Azhar University, Christians call God Allah, and in Indonesia Christians call God Allah, and Sikhs call God Allah and Malaysian Christians have for hundreds of years called God Allah, why change now? Who decides? Why? Using what process?
Christians have to call the government to task about this issue because of the direspect the authorities are showing towards (a) established practice and (b) our Malay neighbours who are made in the image of God and ARE NOT imbeciles.
Bible-reading Christians have no qualms about marking their Bibles.
I have no qualms about removing or defacing anything the authorities put on a Bible.
I would encourage a co-ordinated public event to remove the impositions.
How wonderful it would be if EVERY church in Malaysia conducts a special “Malays are not Imbeciles” service and publicly removes whatever the authorities have put on the Bibles – CFM could distribute the “marked” Bibles to all member churches and co-ordinate the event. We could invite “moderate” Muslims/Malays to the services.
This is an opportunity for churches to be a force for good in Malaysia and overturn the racial stereotyping of Malays as stupid, lazy and indolent.
March 19th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Let us get down to basics. First we need remember they are not printed here. That’s why they are imported. These Bibles are not in Bahasa Melayu. THEY ARE IN BAHASA INDONESIA. Yes, it is the height of imbecility and ridiculousness to even claim something not belonging to one.
But it is satan’s ploy is to get everyone arguing and debating to distract from the darker tide of evil enveloping the ones in highest places of corrupted power in nation still lying and cheating and wielding wickedness in courts and inquests, inquiries and corridors of misgovernance and misrule.
March 21st, 2011 at 2:09 pm
At the end of all things, i see that we need to differentiate between what the root cause is rather than what the surface is all.
In all honesty, the use of the word “Allah” is for all, no one can claim that word belongs to them because it is intenationnaly acknowledge that it is a term in Malay language for God.
What the underlining issue is the suppression of the freedom of faith and religion, which perhaps the Home Ministry or the Government should make a better decision on. By stamping the words “For Christians Only”, what they are saying is that if anyone else wants to read or even do a research on the bible, and they happen not to be a Christian, it could be a person of any other faith, then are they going to punish or put a sentence to the Christian whom they obtained the book from, perhaps a bookshop that the person purchased from?
Or is this put in for the prevention that the Malays/Muslims not to be exposed to the bible?
We in Malaysia are supposed to be practising Muhibbah, our friends range from all communities, ethnics and cultures, we actively pursue friendship with all for unity. There can only be mutual respect as we learn about each others religion, how else would we know that when Buddhist celebrate Wesak Day that they eat only vegetarian food and we respectively, do not offer them pork/meat on those days. How else would we know when the Muslim are in their fasting month and we respectfully, do not eat in their presence so as not to put them to the temptation test. Likewise, how can other community and faith learn to respect Christians if they do not have the tools/resources to learn to do so.
It is disheartening to see that it is only the Christian faith which seems to garner this type of un-warranted suppression. We, as Malaysians, no matter what faith or religion we practice, should rise up and let the Governmental authority know very strongly that in order to have the peace and stability and to have that guaranteed in the constitution for the freedom of religion, Government should be more open to make wise decisions and not allow some prejudicial body to influence them.
I feel as a Malaysian, we should unite together to fight injustice, corruptions, crimes of all kinds and promote all citizens to come together to watch for each other, care for each other and help each other and not subject the Malaysians to one after another of faith issues.
Remember that religion may be open to all, but FAITH is very personal for each individual. There should be no fear to allow people to have that freedom to believe or not believe in a God of their choosing, it only becomes controvesy when the rights of the people are suppressed through devious ways because of the insecurity of some peoples’s own faith. When we truly know the One true God, nothing and no one can shake that faith and we will have no fear of being loaded with knowledge of other religion because perfect love will drive out all fears!
March 24th, 2011 at 9:51 am
@gapstander As far as I understand, one of the versions being impounded is the TMV-Alkitab Berita Baik which is the Bahasa Malaysia translation. The equivalent Bahasa Indonesia translation is known as Alkitab Kabar Baik. And incidentally, the BM translation is printed and bound in Indonesia for reasons that I am not privy too (perhaps its because Indonesia has the necessary facilities for doing so since specific paper and printing techniques are used to print high quality Bibles – ie. the use of India paper).
This episode is merely another example of the corruption and impunity that occurs in the corridors of power.
March 24th, 2011 at 7:44 pm
Thankyou Bob K for input about the BM translation.
I had oft only used the Bahasa Indonesian Bible when doing studies with my Iban friends domiciled in the peninsula: for decades Allah was and still is used in these imported Bibles, and in prayer and worship.
February 25th, 2012 at 2:59 pm
@Joshua,
There’s not exactly a plethora of websites hosting BM Bibles, and the few that do exist are unfortunately not necessarily easy to find. However, for reference, Berita Baik (TMV) is available here:
http://www.bible.org.my/bible/
March 16th, 2012 at 9:52 am
Yes. Zachs. I stand corrected. I also managed to google for the same website. Its a start at least. Technically they can block the site but that would bring even more global and local attention and new sites will be built.