Despite the Bar Council's opinion on the issue of the seized bibles, the Selangor government will follow the sultan's advice, said Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim.

He was asked today about Bar Council chairperson Christopher Leong's view that Selangor’s legal adviser does not have legal standing to take the matter regarding the bibles seized by Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to court.

"It's all right, whether they (the Bar Council) are right, whatever their views.

"That is, for the matter to be decided in the courts," he said at a press conference in Shah Alam today.

Khalid said the decision to ask the courts to decide the fate of the holy books was arrived at when he, the state secretary and the state legal adviser met the sultan on Thursday.

The Selangor sultan had asked Jais to refer to the public prosecutor and courts to decide whether the bible should be returned or destroyed.

The state government had sought the sultan's advice after the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) which oversees Jais defied its order to return the holy books.

This came about after the Attorney-General's Chambers refused to take up the matter, insisting there was no case.

ais had confiscated 321 of Malay and Iban language copies of the Bible using the word "Allah" to refer to God in January, citing state laws which prohibit non-Muslims from using the word.

The Bar Council had argued the state government, through its legal advisor, has no locus standi to turn to the courts to decide the fate of the holy books.

It said Jais and Mais had no grounds not to return the holy books after the Attorney-General's Chambers decision.