A Catholic Bishop has condemned in "no uncertain terms" the impoundment of thousands of copies of the Indonesian version of the Bible at Port Klang and Kuching.

bishop paul tan chee ing In remarks made to Malaysiakini late yesterday, Bishop Dr Paul Tan Chee Ing, who is also the president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of Malaysia but speaking as the titular head of the Malacca-Johor diocese, said the impoundment was a "flagrant example of the hypocrisy of people who treat the 1Malaysia concept as a vote-winning slogan rather than as a platform on which to unify the people."

Further, he said, the action was a violation of the "fundamental right of freedom of religion which is guaranteed by the federal constitution."

Thousands of copies of the Al-Kitab have been impounded by Customs at both Port Klang and in Kuching by order of the Home Ministry on the basis of a 1986 government ban on the use of the word ‘Allah' in non-Muslim contexts.

This prohibition was instituted despite the decades-long use of the word by Christians in Borneo, which preceded the merger of the states of Sarawak and Sabah with the Federation of Malaya in 1963.

The ‘Allah' issue has vaulted from a backburner to the forefront of national concerns because of a High Court decision in late 2009 that upheld the right of the Catholic weekly, Herald , to use the term in its Bahasa Malaysia edition.

The federal government in 1986 made the use of the word ‘Allah' and several other Islamic theological terms exclusive to Muslims.

Use of ‘Allah’ grounded in history

The Home Ministry has appealed the 2009 High Court decision that effectively rescinded the executive action of more than two decades. Till today, no date has been set for the appeal to be heard.

Bishop Paul Tan said, "The Catholic Church together with the Christian leaders of the country at the Kuching Declaration will not retract its decision made in 1989 not to relinquish its right to use the word 'Allah' in its rituals of prayer and worship and in the dissemination of its teachings to the faithful."

"This right is grounded in history, etymology and, now, by secular jurisprudence. We respectfully ask for its recognition by authorities who must match deed to word as otherwise sloganeering becomes mere posturing, and words platitudes," he asserted.

"Enough is enough. We have had our fill of the hypocritical gap between assurances of our freedom of religion and the reality of their restriction," he said.