Kuala Lumpur, Jan 7- The raid by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) on the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) recently should not have happened as such an incident could strain religious and race relations in the country, said National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) chairman, Tan Sri Samsudin Osman.
He said the NUCC believed that the sensitive religious issue which was currently being hotly debated could be resolved through discussions without derailing the national unity agenda.
“The NUCC regrets the raid (by Jais) and calls on the government to abide by the 10-point resolution reached together with Christian groups in the country in April 2011,” he told reporters after the NUCC’s first meeting, here, Monday.
The setting up of NUCC was announced by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak last Nov 23, as part of the government’s commitment to preserve racial unity.
Among the NUCC members present at the meeting were Sisters in Islam board member Datin Paduka Marina Mahathir, Parit Buntar MP Dr Mujahid Yusof Rawa, Malaysian Youth Council president Mohamed Maliki Mohamed Rapiee and celebrity Wardina Safiyyah.
Samsudin said among the suggestions made at today’s NUCC meeting, was for the government to stick to the 10-point resolution in solving the “kalimah Allah” issue following the Jais raid and protest gatherings by some non-governmental organisations over the issue.
He said the proposed solutions would be put forward to the government soonest possible.
Samsudin said the Jais raid clearly went against the 10-point resolution that was announced by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Idris Jala in 2011, whereby Putrajaya (federal government) would allow the importation of Bibles in all languages including Bahasa Malaysia/Indonesia.
He said among the other solutions proposed was for the NUCC to hold a closed-door discussion with religious leaders, the relevant authorities and other concerned groups as soon as possible.
Last Thursday, Jais raided the BSM premises in Damansara Kim and seized 300 Bibles in the Malay and Iban language in an attempt to stop the use of the word “Allah” in these scriptures as it contravenes the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
Samsudin said the NUCC’s task now was to hold unity dialogues nationwide with the community to obtain feedback on national unity before the report would be tabled to the government in six months’ time.
“Our target is what the government hopes for, that is, the drawing up of a unity blueprint. We will work at fulfilling what the prime minister had asked for (preparing the report),” he said.
– Bernama
