Despite the announcement by Attorney-General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail last week that there would be no charges levelled at the Bible Society of Malaysia, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) have refused to return the Bahasa Malaysia bibles they confiscated from the BSM six months ago … and true to form, Malay-Muslim NGOs have risen to their defense.
Datuk Hasan Ali, leader of the Malay rights group Jati took the Selangor state government to task, questioning Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s administration on why it would demand for the return of the confiscated bibles.
In a quote from The Malay Mail Online, Hasan said, “Who is behind the state government’s eagerness for Mais, through Jais to return the bibles confiscated immediately when there was no such instruction from the Attorney-General?”
“Jati is confident that no one is behind Mais’ decision. Mais made the decision based on sincerity and its responsibility for protecting the religion and the community’s faith. Nothing more than that,” he added.
Hasan also questioned whether the Attorney-General has absolute authority in a case that involved the interests of Islam in the country, and stressed his concern that the dissemination of bibles in Bahasa Malaysia represented only the tip of the iceberg in an effort to eliminate Islam from Malaysia.
“Malaysians, especially Muslims, Islamic organisations and Malay-Muslim organisations and other organisations which highly views Islam should stand by Mais in its efforts to defend Allah’s religion which is currently facing attacks.
“The work of certain groups who do not want to see Islam taking root and growing in this country are well-organised with the support, not only from certain parties in the country, as well as with international agencies,” he said.
On Satruday, Mais delcared that they would not return the bibles, claiming the Attorney-General’s Chambers had made a mistake in not deciding to press charges in the case.
The council insisted that there are grounds to prosecute the BSM under Selangor’s Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
Mais went on to state that Jais, which falls under its purview, would not adhere to directives to return the bibles issued by the Selangor state government because the state had “no power” in the matter.
Both Mais and Jais are now seeking a court ruling that will enable them to dispose of the bibles, seized on January 2.
