Dr Chan: Let the Bibles go

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/3/13/sarawak/8258235&sec=sarawak

Sunday March 13, 2011

Dr Chan: Let the Bibles go

BY STEPHEN THEN

stephenthen@thestar.com.my

MIRI: The Sarawak government wants the Home Ministry to release all detained or seized Bibles immediately.

Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan (pic) said the state government was of the opinion that detaining and seizing the Bibles was “totally unacceptable in multi-racial and multi-religious Malaysia.”

Dr Chan, who is SUPP president, said Sarawak could not understand the rationale behind such treatment of the Bibles or why the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bibles could not be imported into the country.

“The state government objects in the strongest term to this sort of treatment of the Bibles. Whoever is doing this sort of thing, whether it is the Federal Government or any Federal ministry, it is wrong and unjust.

“We in the state government cannot accept this,” he told reporters here when reacting to the latest controversy over the detention of 30,000 Bibles in Port Klang and Kuching Port.

Dr Chan pointed out that there were never such problems in Sarawak and could not understand why those responsible “were being so difficult and causing unnecessary controversies and ill-feelings among Malaysians.”

“What is wrong with allowing the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bibles to be used by Christians? In Sarawak, we have never faced such controversies before. In this state, we have mosques and churches built side-by-side. In our coffeeshops, we have Chinese and Malay food sellers operating next to each other.

“Chinese and Muslims eat at the same table. We never have any problem with race or religion.” He said the state would talk to the Federal Cabinet and the Home Ministry on this.

“Please don’t create unnecessary problems for the rakyat. Don’t spread such behaviour to Sarawak.”

The Home Ministry has said that the Bibles were not allowed into the state and country because they did not meet the terms and conditions set by the ministry. The Bibles were printed in Indonesia.

Last year, the same controversy erupted in Kuala Lumpur when the ministry banned similar Bibles from being used.

On Friday, MCA president Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek had said that allowing Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia to be printed locally by printing houses sanctioned by the Home Ministry would provide an amicable solution to the deadlock over the matter.

He said if Bibles in the national language were printed locally, then these could be allowed to be circulated to churches with proper supervision.

He also appealed to the Government to meet church groups to resolve the issue soon, stating that the fulfilment of religious needs should not be confined to selected languages, and that every Malaysian had the right to practise his religion as guaranteed and enshrined in the Federal Constitution.

Dr Chan yesterday said state leaders would raise the issue for discussion during the next state cabinet meeting and bring the issue to the Federal Cabinet and to the attention of the Prime Minister.

He said Sarawak did not want to see such controversies happen again and if the Bibles could not be imported from Indonesia, then Sarawak would print them.

“The Federal Government better get this resolved fast,’’ he said.

Asked if the state Barisan Nasional was worried about political repercussion during the coming election, Dr Chan said the state government was angry not because of political reasons, but more so because such acts were unjustified.

He, however, claimed that SUPP lost in last May’s Sibu by-election partly because of the controversies over the use of the word Allah and also because of the detention of the Bibles in Port Klang at that time.

Dr Chan warned that the Barisan could face a similar backlash if the matter was not resolved quickly.