Party president, Datuk Mah Siew Keong (pic) said this should be done as the Attorney-General’s (AG) Chambers had decided that the Malay and Iban language Bibles were not security threats and, as such, there was no case to answer.
“It is high time that Khalid must exercise his authority over this issue and ensure that Mais will return the confiscated Bibles to BSM with a guarantee that similar incidents must never repeat in the future.
“He has two-thirds’ support from the Selangor state assembly and AG’s Chambers has also cleared the legal hurdles for him to take necessary action, it is now time for him to show political will and set things straight again,” he said in a statement here.
In the meantime Mah said Gerakan would continue to monitor the issue as the party was committed in safeguarding the rights and interests of all Malaysians as enshrined in the Federal Constitution.
Last Wednesday, AG Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail announced that no prosecution would be made relating to the Bible seizure and that the case was closed.
He said the AG’s Chambers had examined the facts and evidence in the investigation papers on the seized books and concluded that they were not the writings that were published under Section 9 (1)(a) of the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988.
Following that, Abdul Khalid instructed Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to return the seized Bible to the BSM.
Mais chairman Datuk Mohamad Adzib Mohd Isa, however, said Mais disagreed with the Selangor Government’s directive, clarifying it was outside the jurisdiction of the state government.
“Mais urges the Selangor deputy pubic prosecutor to refer the matter to the court first, to get an order for the disposal of the exhibits as provided under Section 407A of the Penal Code,” he was reported as saying.
On Jan 2, Jais raided the PBM office in Damansara Kim, Petaling Jaya and seized 300 Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia and Iban, in a move to eradicate the usage of the term, “Allah” in the Bibles which it claimed contravened the enactment.
— BERNAMA
