Several MCA leaders today criticised Selangor Pakatan Rakyat for failing to return copies of the Bible in the Malay and Iban language that were seized by religious authorities on Jan 1.
 
MCA Youth secretary-general Leong Kim Soon said Selangor exco member Elizabeth Wong had publicly stated on Jan 11 that the scriptures will be returned in a week, but nothing has been heard of since.
 
"However, the given deadline has reached its end and due to the recent power struggle in the Pakatan Selangor government, their promise to return the Bibles has been pushed to the sidelines.
 
"It is thus obvious that Pakatan leaders are irresponsible, as they are only interested in consolidating their power and have no concern over the people’s interest," said Leong in a press release today.
 
Leong also accused Selangor DAP of being impotent by failing to resolve the issue, despite forming a third of the government bench and having three state exco members.
 
"If DAP is unable to do anything about this, then what is their purpose in being elected into government?" he asked.
 
Jais more powerful than exco?

Leong said that this incident proves that the pay increase for Selangor state assemblypersons were unjustified as DAP were incapable of resolving the people's problems.

 
Meanwhile, MCA religious harmony bureau deputy chief Ng Chok Sin accused Pakatan of passing the buck to the home ministry.
 
He said that since it has been more than a one week deadline announced by Wong had expired, it proved that the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) is "more powerful" than the state government.
 
"And this sort of thing is completely unacceptable," said Ng.
 
Jais' had confiscated 300 copies of the Bible in the Malay language and 10 copies of the Bible in the Iban language during a raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia on Jan 1.
 
The incident had sparked a debate on whether cabinet's 10-point solution to allow Christians to use the term "Allah" in certain states is in peril.

The fiasco also highlights the disjuncture between the state's Islamic authorities and the state government, as it has been pointed out that Jais reports directly to the sultan.

In particular, the Selangor Islamic Religious Council (Mais) has claimed that Jais needs not follow the orders of the Selangor government that has laid down new standard operating procedures for the department.