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Tuesday, December 9, 2014

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

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