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Khalid could’ve done better in dealing with Bible-seizure row, says Anwar

Minister blames ignorance by all for Bible seizures

Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim should have taken a tougher stand in dealing with the Bible-seizure row, said PKR de facto leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim today.

The opposition leader said the Khalid administration could have ensured a fairer outcome for Muslims and Christians in the state by returning the 300 Malay- and Iban-language Bibles, which were confiscated by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) immediately after the raid on the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) in January.

“The MB should have taken a tougher stance. The state government must take measures to appease the situation. You could return the Bibles but give a strong condition that the Bible cannot be distributed to Muslims,” Anwar told a press conference here today.

He said this responding to the BSM decision that it was relocating to Kuala Lumpur, while complaining that the Selangor government did little to help it following the Bible seizure by Jais.

BSM president Lee Min Choon had said that move was needed as Putrajaya offered better protection to religious minorities.

He also said that Putrajaya upheld the cabinet’s 10-point solution on the Allah row by not disrupting the distribution of its Bible shipments.

Lee added that it would also stop importing Bibles through Port Klang.

"We will ship BM bibles directly to Sabah and Sarawak, where most of the Bahasa Malaysia Bible readers are residing.

"As for the peninsula, we will ship through Penang, which does not have a law like the 1988 Selangor Enactment," he told a press conference today.

Lee said the move was expected in the next two months.

“We have shipments waiting to come in based on orders made before the raid. But because we don't want to risk our Bibles being seized again, we have delayed the shipment of 50,000 BM Bibles from Indonesia.”

Lee said that the move was inevitable since it had become obvious in the last one week that the Selangor exco had washed their hands of the matter.

The BSM office in Damansara Kim is just metres’ away from the state's border with Kuala Lumpur.

"Since the raid, we have given them three months but they refuse to take action over agencies like Jais.

"We have no assurance from the Selangor exco that this incident will not happen again," Lee said.

Lee said that in future, Christians and churches who wanted to buy the BM Bibles, or Alkitab, from BSM would have to get them from BSM outlets in Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Kuching, Miri and Kota Kinabalu as part of the relocation exercise.

Currently, BSM's only other outlet apart from its Damansara Kim office was a storeroom in Kota Kinabalu.

He added that the relocation of its main registered business address from Damansara Kim to Kuala Lumpur would, however, be subject to Registrar of Societies approval.

Anwar today said the Selangor government’s failure to act proactively on the issue had become a “concern that is shared by many”.

“I told the MB before that the state can return the Bibles with a strong condition that it must not be distributed among Muslims. I am sure the church would not have a problem with such a condition,” he added.

Anwar refuted claims that Khalid did not have any interest in wanting to solve the issue at all.

“I think there was interest, but there should have been more initiative to assure the people,” he said.

Commenting on the BSM move to relocate to Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Khalid said the Selangor government had no objection to the BSM plan.

He said it was within BSM's right to move and he would not interfere in their decision.

“I have no further comment. I wish them all the best,” he told reporters at the state assembly yesterday. – April 16, 2014.