The Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) is to move its base to Kuala Lumpur to avoid the reach of the Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais).

On Jan 2, Jais seized 320 copies of the Malay and Iban language Bible from its premises in Petaling Jaya, but these have yet to be returned.

BSM, which has maintained that the Bible was only for distribution to non-Muslims, said in a statement today that it hopes the move will end the harassment from Jais.

"Apart from the change of our base, it will be business as usual for BSM. However, we will no longer be importing the Bible through Port Klang, but will ship (the) BM Bible directly to (Sabah and Sarawak) where most of the readers are,” BSM president Lee Min Choon (right) said.

“As for (peninsular) Malaysia, we will ship through Penang, which does not have a law like the Selangor 1988 Enactment.”

Law experts had previously told Malaysiakini that only the Federal Territories and Sarawak were free of state enactments similar to those used by Jais to raid BSM’s office.

When contacted for details, Lee said the BSM owns the current premises.

It expects to be able to move to Kuala Lumpur within the next two months and “be completely free” of Jais' sphere of influence.

Blame apportioned to Selangor gov't

BSM also apportioned blame to the Selangor state government for its “lack of interest and will to address an unjust situation”.

The indecisiveness of Selangor’s state exco will simply make Jais a “free agent” to regulate not only Muslims but also non-Muslim religious groups and bodies as well, Lee said.

A week ago, Selangor Mentri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim suggested BSM try writing letters to the Attorney-General’s Office to ask for the return of the seized Bibles. Lee said this was an unacceptable excuse not to make an executive decision on the quandary thrown up by Jais, which also has Selangor sultan’s backing.

BSM asserted that it had rights under Article 11 of the federal constitution and was irked that two of its non-Muslim workers were hauled up by Jais in an unprecedented move on Jan 2, besides taking away the Bibles.

“BSM wishes to put on record that since the announcement of the 10-point solution by the federal government in April 2011, BSM had imported 400,000 copies of the Al-Kitab, the Bahasa Malaysia Bible, into Malaysia for use by Christians and churches.

“These arrived in 21 shipments over a period of two years,” Lee said.

He added that the Home Ministry had cleared these Bible imports made through Port Klang.

Besides Kuala Lumpur, BSM said it will continue to operate centres in Penang, Kuching, Miri and Kota Kinabalu.

“Christians residing in Selangor will have to personally undertake the risk of transporting and using the BM Bible in Selangor territory. For the rest of the country, we do not anticipate such problems,” Lee said.

In an immediate response to the BSM move, Selangor MB Abdul Khalid Ibrahim today urged the people to respect each other’s rights and uphold the law.

“We never intervened with the Bible Society, they chose to move by themselves and it is not our decision,” Khalid told reporters in Shah Alam.

Exco member Teng Chang Khim, meanwhile, commented that BSM had the right to operate wherever it felt “safe” to do so.