Bible ban based on 1986 cabinet decision
Copies of the Bible printed in Indonesia cannot be brought into Malaysia because of a cabinet decision made nearly a quarter century ago, the Home Ministry says.
Copies of the Bible printed in Indonesia cannot be brought into Malaysia because of a cabinet decision made nearly a quarter century ago, the Home Ministry says.
The ministry's Publications Control and Quranic Text Division secretary Zaitun Ab Samad said the cabinet in May 1986 issued a directive banning non-Muslims from using the terms "Allah", "Solat", "Kiblat" and "Kaabah".
Added Zaitun: "It is not a ministerial regulation, but the administration is required to adhere to cabinet decisions."
The cabinet, she said, had never made a decision, nor given permission to the ministry, to release 5,000 copies of the Bible kept in Port Klang since March 2009.
"We also cannot take any action (to release them) because our court case with the Catholic publication Herald is still pending.
"So any action will mean sub judice (contempt of court). We will just have to wait for the decision of the Court of Appeal," said Zaiton.
How issue reached court
The row over the use of the term "Allah" row started in 2009 when the Home Ministry revoked the annual permit for Herald after deciding the usage of such terms in its Bahasa Malaysia section and invokied the 1986 cabinet decision.
However, the matter landed in court and Herald won the case, with the judge ruling that the minister's order was "illegal, null and void".
Since then, there have been waves of protest, with several places of worship vandalised and desecrated.
The ministry then took the case to the appellate court on the grounds of national security and to prevent misunderstanding and confusion among Muslims.
Sounding exasperated when speaking over the phone with Malaysiakini , Zaiton also insisted that the government had sent several notices to the importer to retrieve the consignment of 5,000 Alkitab Berita Baik in the Customs Department's custody.
"We have notified them several times but they refused to come and take them back. Actually, we could have disposed of them but we also want to give them chance lah," she said.
However, she said that she could not recall the name of the importer, only that the bibles were printed by an Indonesian publisher.
"This is all actually nothing new. It all happened two years ago," she said.
While the Bible Society of Malaysia is mulling legal action against the government, the Christian Federation of Malaysia claimed that Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak had promised that there would be no ban on the Bahasa Malaysia version of the bible and that the consignment would be released.
