MCCBCHST MEDIA STATEMENT
25th March 2011
The Christian Federation of Malaysia’s (CFM) Media Statements of 10th and 17th March, 2011 stated that the Malaysian Christian community “is greatly disillusioned, fed-up and angered by the repeated detention of Bibles written in our national language, Bahasa Malaysia” – the Al Kitab. He was referring to the impounding of over 35,000 copies in Kuching, Sarawak and in Port Klang in total since March, 2009.
Repeated appeals were made to the Prime Minister and the CFM was informed in December 2009 that the 5,000 copies in Port Klang would be released. They were not. And when he was so informed last Christmas, he could only express surprise that the Al Kitab are still being held by the authorities.
This situation begs a first pair of questions, “Does our current Prime Minister wield any authority? And, if he does not, who does?”
Now the CFM has discovered that the release will be effected subject to certain conditions, every copy to be stamped with a serial number, an official seal and the words, “by order of the Minister of Home Affairs.” This means that the Al Kitab (Bahasa Malaysia version) is now considered a restricted item and “the Word of God has been made subject to the control of man. The full details are contained in the CFM’s Media Statements referred to above.
Since the the above facts have become public, many respected and responsible Malaysian organisations and individual personages like the Malaysian Gurdwaras Council, the PAS ulamas, Puan Zuraidah Kamaruddin of Wanita Keadilan and the Federation of Taoist Malaysia have already come out in support of the CFM and decried the stand and actions taken by the authorities. Many more are expected to come out in public support of the CFM in the forthcoming days.
It would appear that the authorities would have Malaysians (especially the Malays and/or Muslims) believe that the current developments about the release of the Al Katib, make it an Islam/Christianity or Muslim/Christian conflict in our beloved country.
It would be relevant here to briefly return to our history to ascertain certain historical facts. Malaya’s (and Malaysia’s) founding father, Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj, our first and most loved Prime Minister, prince and premier, truly a statesman, said in 1957 of the new nation, Malaya, “Let freedom be secured for all the law-abiding people. There shall be freedom of worship, freedom of speech, freedom from want, freedom of association, freedom of assembly and freedom of movement.”
The political leaders definitely do not have a finger on the pulse of the nation. They are definetly wrong in what they are doing.
In the face of what has been alluded to the Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) in the narrative about “The Promise to St. Catherine”, it is highly suspect that the Islamic high officials in our country do not even know their own religion!
The preceding now begs a second set of questions: “After the Christians have been ‘fixed,’ who next? ”
The MCCBCHST unequivocally endorses the points made in the CFM press statement and supported by the Malaysian Gurdwara Council, the Federation of Taoist Malaysia and the many other right-thinking organisations and individuals who already have so spoken out and the many more that will speak out in the days to come. We also vehemently oppose the present line of action being pursued. If anyone intelligently follows the little evidence laid out above (and we can promise you even more of the TRUTH where that came from) you must understand and appreciate why we, and all right-thinking Malaysians (of whichever race or religion), must take the stand that we do.
Reverend Dr. Thomas Philips – President
Daozhang Tan Boon Sin – Deputy President
Venerable Ming Ji – Vice President
Sardar V. Hacharan Singh – Vice President
Mr. RS. Mohan Shan – Vice President
The Micah Mandate is a Christian-based public interest advocacy ministry that seeks a transformation of our nation through justice, mercy and humility.
March 29th, 2011 at 11:22 am
The undertone of the statement from MCCBCHST in particular the provocative sentence – “After the Christians have been ‘fixed,’ who next? ” is rather unfortunate. What if the accusation is wrong? It’s interesting to note that nowadays polit…icians want to talk about moral issues and religious leaders want to talk politics. Some of us have disagree whether we should be culturally conditioned to respond that our Holy Scriptures are desecrated or should we response with a counter Christian culture as epitomized in the Sermon of the Mount? But let us not forget that if the Aliktab have the word “Tuhan” instead of “Allah”, the bibles would not have been impounded. Instead of making provocative statements, what if Christians just simply disobey peacefully and graciously? What will happen if CFM just take possession of the bibles and put stickers over the stamp that says “For Everyone” or just erase the stamping? What if we reframe the issue as how to get the bibles without further delay to those who need them rather than making our provocative stand to the Powers that Be?