CFM MEDIA STATEMENT - CFM Responds to MAIS statement - 8 Dec 2014

CHRISTIAN FEDERATION OF MALAYSIA

PERSEKUTUAN KRISTIAN MALAYSIA

Address : 26 Jalan Universiti, 46200 Petaling Jaya, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia

Telephone / Fax : + 60 3 7957 1457

Email: cfmsia@yahoo.co.uk

8th December 2014

CFM RESPONDS TO THE MAIS STATEMENT ISSUED DURING THE

RECENT RETURN OF THE BM BIBLES TO THE BIBLE SOCIETY OF

MALAYSIA

The Christian Federation of Malaysia has taken time to study carefully the

ramifications of the MAIS’ statement (see attached, signed letter in

English from MAIS) which was released on 14 November 2014 together with

the return of the Bibles seized by JAIS from the Bible Society of Malaysia

(BSM).

The return was enabled by the goodwill of DYMM Sultan Selangor, the Mentri

Besar of Selangor (initiated by his predecessor) and other individuals. CFM

appreciates the return of the Bibles but also supports the recent statement by the

BSM on the problems that have surfaced.

CFM views with great concern the final paragraph of the MAIS’ letter which

reads “…and hope that the distribution as well as the printing of Bibles that

contain the word "Allah" is no longer done in the State of Selangor, as it is an

offence under the Non-Islamic Religious Enactment (Control Development

Among Muslims) 1988.”

This blanket ban on the use of the Bahasa Malaysia Bibles in the State of

Selangor is unrealistic, given that there are thousands of Sabahans and

Sarawakians who reside and work in the state of Selangor besides the thousands

of West Malaysian Christians who are conversant only in our national language.

Both the (then) Archbishop of Kuala Lumpur of the Catholic Church (on 21

October 2013) and the CFM statement (dated 14 October 2013) made the

clarification that the use of the BM Bibles containing the use of the word

"Allah" will continue, as will Christian services conducted for these Bahasa

Malaysia-speaking citizens, as has been done peacefully without hindrance over

the past few troubled years.

Forcing the discontinuation of the use of the BM Bibles by Malaysian

Christians and those ministering to them would go against the Federal

Constitution provision of Article 11 on Freedom of Religion, in which Clause

(3) (a) states that “every religious group has the right to manage its own

religious affairs”.

It would be a gross injustice to Malaysian Christians whose only language for

worship and for their Holy Bible is Bahasa Malaysia which has been used by

them for centuries (see CFM Fact Sheet on “When, Why and How the word

"Allah" is used by Christians” in our website www.cfmmsia.org).

With the recent assurances from the Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Malaysia

(on 31 October 2014) that their 10-point solution will be made clear to all civil

servants and the Prime Minister more recently (on 14 November 2014)

attributing to civil servants the "problem" of the "Allah issue" and intimating

that seizure and such curtailment are not part of the solution promised in a letter

from the Prime Minister to CFM (dated 11 April 2011), it is imperative that

both the Federal and state governments work speedily to ensure that the

10-point solution is indeed a solution and not a sham which causes unnecessary

confusion and conflict.

Rev. Dr. Eu Hong Seng

Chairman and the Executive Committee

The Christian Federation of Malaysia