Christian leaders said they were unperturbed by the Home Minister’s recent remarks that suggested they were not fair or reasonable over the Malay-language Bibles or Alkitab, reiterating that they would stand by their decision not to accept any form of defacement on their holy book.
“I really don’t what the Home Minister is trying to say or what he’s talking about. Our position has not changed from the start, we continue to remain open to any discussions that lead to better understanding to each other’s views,” Christian Federation of Malaysia member Rev Thomas Philips, who is also the president of religious organisation MCCBCHST, told Malaysia Chronicle.
"But as we have stated many times, we cannot accept any form of desecration to the Bible."
The controversy over the Alkitab flared up earlier this month after the Home Ministry detained some 35,100 copies of the Alkitab at Port Klang and the Kuching port.
After much pressure from the Christian community, Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the Bibles would be released, but imposed the two conditions, namely stamping a serial number and the words 'For Christians Only'.
But that created even greater uproar, leading his ministry into dropping the serial number and changing the 'For Christians Only' tag to 'For Christianity'. But that was also rejected by the CFM on Wednesday, spurring Hisham into criticising the federation's decision.
“I hope they can come to a solution that is fair and reasonable,” Hisham had said on Thursday.
No impediments
According to Rev Thomas, the CFM made it very clear to the authorities that there should be no restrictions, proscriptions or prohibitions whatsoever on the Bible or the use of the language of their choice in the practice of their religion, as it was in the days before and after the formation of Malaysia.
CFM had previously complained that the Bible was now treated as a restricted item, and that the Word of God had been made subject to the control of man.
“In order to move forward, we call on the Government to commit itself once and for all to remove every impediment, whether legal or administrative, to the importation, publication, distribution and use of the Alkitab and indeed to protect and defend our right to use the Alkitab,” the federation had said in a statement. - Malaysia Chronicle
No comments:
Post a Comment