Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian has slammed the Home Ministry for contravening the 1963 Malaysia Agreement in detaining the 30,000 bibles, being impounded at the Kuching Port since January.

In a strongly worded statement issued yesterday evening, he said he considers the action of the ministry to be religious harassment of Christians in Sarawak and a failure to uphold the guarantee of religious freedom that had been penned into the Agreement.

NONE "Today I came to know that 30,000 BM bibles had been detained at the Kuching Port since January 2011.

"From the various documents furnished to my office, the bibles were detained on the Jan 12, 2011 under section 7(1) of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (Amended) 1987 and could be rejected ,its importation and its distribution stopped or be returned to its sender under section (9) (1) of the same Act.

"The letter dated Jan 12, 2011 detaining the bibles was issued by the "Bahagaian Kawalan Penerbitan Dan Teks Al-Quran, Negeri Sarawak (Publications Control and Quranic Text Division, Sarawak State) " acting under section 9A, 17 & 18 of the same Act, pending the decision of the Home Minister, said Bian ( above ).

Against 1963 Agreement

"Reading Sections 7(1) and 9A of the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 (Amended) 1987, the act of detaining the bibles was premised on the grounds that the bibles are "likely to be prejudicial to public order, morality, security, or which is likely to alarm public opinion, or which is or is likely to be contrary to any law or is otherwise prejudicial to or is likely to be prejudicial to public interest or national interest.."

Bian said it must be emphasized that this is not the first time that such bibles had been detained by the same authority.

"It is the same bible, the same version and the same argument and grounds to hold them. I wish to state that such action cannot be justified anymore.

Guy Morin mayor of Basel penan sarawak Bruno Manser commemoraton "It is not only a blatant disregard of our constitutional right as Christians in Malaysia but against the provision or the terms and conditions of the Malaysian Agreement of 1963 where we as Christians in Sarawak had been given the assurance and guarantee that our religious right before we joined Malaysia would be protected and guaranteed.

"I deplore in the strongest term such repeated action of the ministry which is deemed religious harassment of the Christians in Sarawak," he said, adding Prime Minister Najib Razak is accountable and responsible as head of the federal government.

He said the Christians should not be fooled again by any promise, assurance and guarantee from the prime minister that there is freedom of religion in Malaysia because the detention comes from his government.

"He cannot have any excuse that his little Napoleons are causing all these problems.

"The detention of these bibles is consistent with the fact that the present government had appealed against the decision of the High Court in the Herald case, which is still pending a decision.

"The only resolution, a long term resolution for this issues for the Christians in Malaysia, especially those in Sarawak, is for a change of the very power that detained the bibles in the coming general elections," Bian added.

Najib to blame

Meanwhile, DAP life advisor Chen Man Hin ( below ) called the impounding of the Bibles a form of “religious bigotry on the part of some fanatics” in the country, and a “glaring example” of the failure of Prime Minister Najib Razak’s 1Malaysia,

NONE “In Malaysia the Christian natives praise Allah when they pray and when saluting each other in every day life. To them Allah is part and parcel of their religion, culture and lifestyle,” said Chen, pointing out that the term was used by both Christians and Muslims alike in the Middle East.

“In the Peninsula there are also thousands of Christian workers from Sabah and Sarawak who go regularly to churches and pray to Allah regularly.

“It is hard to understand why local Muslims are so conservative on the issue. It is time for Malaysian Muslims to move on, and embrace reforms like their Muslim brothers in the Arab countries of Egypt, Tunisia, Libya and others, said Chen in a statement yesterday evening.   

The DAP advisor pinned the blame for increasing religious intolerance in the country on the prime minister, for recently saying that “1Malaysia does not subscribe to pluralism in the country”.

“If pluralism is not accepted, the whole concept of unity in a multiracial, multi-religious society would be undermined.

“A united multi-religious society means that the religions are equal and live together with perfect harmony and understanding,” said Chen.