Home Ministry ready to return Christian items to Sabah pastor
The Home Ministry clarified today that the Christian books and CDs seized at klia2 last Saturday had nothing to do with the materials containing the word Allah.
Hashimah Nik Jaafar, the ministry's publications and Quranic text division head, told The Malaysian Insider that the owner, Maklin Masiau, had been contacted and the materials would be returned to him.
She said they were seized by the Customs Department as the person carrying it did not have an import permit, which is required when foreign publications are brought into the country.
She said usually when publications were brought in by bookshop owners, they would usually do it through agents who would liaise with her department for the permit.
She added that if a person was just carrying one or two books, the customs officers would usually just let the person through.
"But he was carrying 574 books and 419 CDs in five to six boxes so naturally the customs officers would check.
"And it was just procedure for them to seize it for the purposes of referring the publications to us because they were brought in from another country in bulk without an import permit.
"But it had nothing to do with the materials containing the word Allah," Hashimah told The Malaysian Insider today.
She added that the books and CDs were now in the Home Ministry's possession at the airport terminal and they had verified that they were brought in for the owner's own use.
"If he would have come and seen us when the items were seized, we would have checked and cleared it and he could have taken it back with him to Sabah.
"But in this case, he went back to Sabah without refering to us."
She said Masiau had been told that the cost of getting the materials back to him in Sabah would have have to be borne by him.
"He has not given us an answer on that yet, so we will wait for him to decide on how that is going to be done."
The Malaysian Insider reported today that Masiau was detained and questioned for 40minutes by the Customs officers before his books and CDs were seized last Saturday.
He posted on his Facebook page that he was now prepared for the long process of getting the authorities to release the materials.
“I know the football game had just started.”
Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, the minister in charge of unity, said in a statement today that efforts were being made to ensure the Christian books and CDs were returned to its owner.
"We will do our best to ensure the books and CDs are returned as we are totally committed to the 10-point agreement.
"We are making the necessary efforts to have the books and CDs returned as soon as possible to the owner
The 10-point agreement drawn up before the Sarawak state elections in 2011 provided for Bibles in all languages to be imported, including those in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia which contained the word “Allah”.
It also allowed for the printing, importation and distribution of the Alkitab, the Bahasa Malaysia version of the Bible. – October 31, 2014.
