I felt relieved when the Home Ministry instructed the release of the 35,000 impounded copies of the Malay translated Bible. However, the Ministry’s Publications Control and Quranic Text Division had seen it fit to come up with certain conditions that the Bible Society of Malaysia must adhere to before the holy books can be released.

Instead of the signs of the cross and the words “Christian Publication” as agreed between them in Dec 2005, the Ministry has now stamped the words “The Good News Bible is for the use of Christians only”.

I have to applaud the Ministry for limiting readership of the Bible to only Christians. It was rather humorous that the Ministry is stating the obvious; that only Christians can use the Bible. If you don’t use the bible, surely you cannot be Christians.  So I would call on the Christian fraternity not to get all worked up on the obvious.

However, if there is such an agreement on the words used between the two parties, I urge the Ministry to keep their word as revealed in the Quran: “Why do you say that which you do not do?” (Quran Surah As-saff Verse 2)

From the statement issued by Abim recently, I sensed the organisation’s fear that Muslims may become confused or be Christian converts in droves, once they read the Malay translated Bibles.

Being a Muslim and marrying into a family of many faiths including Christianity, I believe that Abim’s fear is unfounded. I have been to churches, listened to their prayers, sang hymns and, short of believing in the doctrine of the Trinity; I do not believe I have become less of a Muslim.

Just like any other commodity, a person should be given the choice to choose whichever faith he/she wants to believe in. If your product could not withstand the open market, then you should find ways to improve the demand for your product. Suppressing the marketability of another person’s product is underhanded and unethical.

As Muslims, we should take cognisance of the stories revealed in the Quran of people trying to suppress the spread of God’s word. Are we now, who profess to be Muslims, becoming the oppressor instead by suppressing other people’s rights to propagate their religion?