In January this year, the Bible Society of Malaysia office was raided by local Islamic authorities. Hundreds of Malay Bibles were seized and two BSM officials arrested. With their work supplying Bibles to Christians in Malaysia under threat, the decision was made to move Bible Society operations to the Federal Territory, Kuala Lumpur, where they would experience more religious freedom. Sophie Timothy recently interviewed Rev. Dr. Simon Wong, the General Secretary of BSM to hear more about the situation in Malaysia. But first, some background.

The raid on the BSM office is one chapter in a long-running dispute over the use of the word “Allah”, which has been used by Christians who speak Malay (the native language) for centuries. The “Allah” issue came to a head in 2009 when a Catholic newspaper used the word in its Malay-language edition to describe the Christian God. Following a court challenge, the newspaper was given permission to use the word, but that ruling was overturned in October last year. In June this year Malaysia’s highest court made a final determination, the newspaper was not allowed to use “Allah” in their publication.

Wanting to appease Christians during what was a tense time, in 2011 the Prime Minister announced a “10 Point Plan”, which granted permission for the Bible to be imported into Malaysia in all languages, including Malay (which uses the word “Allah” for God) as well as to be printed locally. But not all states adopted the 10 Point Plan, including the state of Selangor, where the Bible Society of Malaysia had been importing and distributing Bibles. Without the protection of the state authorities, Bible Society felt it could no longer distribute the Malay language Bibles in Selangor and have since set up operations in KL.

The raid was also the result of the complex legal system in Malaysia where 61 per cent of the population is Muslim. In some states, Islamic Religious Councils have extensive power, particularly to bring to light the offences committed by Muslims under Sharia law. It was the local Islamic Religious Council which raided Bible Society offices back in January and confiscated over 300 Bibles. At the time, there was much debate surrounding the legality of the raid and whether Bible Society Malaysia was in any way breaking the law.

Sophie Timothy spoke to Simon Wong General Secretary of Bible Society Malaysia about recent events and the challenges of continuing their ministry in such a hostile climate.

ST: Can you explain the history of the “Allah” row?

SW: “Allah” is an Arabic word for God, used by the Christian community in the Arabic region before the existence of Islam. The indigenous Churches in East Malaysia had used the Allah word to address God for more than a hundred years. In fact, a Dutch trader by the name of AC Ruyl had used the word to translate God as early as 1812 and the Ruyl’s Dutch-Malay Gospel of Matthew was published in 1829.

The Constitution of Malaysia has provisions for the freedom of religion except the propagation of faith to Muslims. In the 1980s, the State Assemblies of Trengganu, Kelantan, Selangor, Perak, Kedah and Perlis had quietly passed State laws to control the propagation of faiths to Muslims, prohibiting a list of words including “Allah”.

In 2009, the Home Ministry banned the use of the word “Allah” in the Malay Edition of the Catholic Herald magazine and confiscated Malay-language Bibles and materials at Port Klang and Kuching Port. The Catholic Herald’s ban was lifted by the High Court in December 2009 but the Appeal Court reinstated the ban in 2010 and the Federal Court refused the Catholic application for appeal in 2013.

After much consultation, the Malaysian Federal government issued a 10-point solution in April 2011 to allow full freedom to print, import and distribute Bibles containing the word Allah with only one condition: printing a cross and two words “Christian publication” on the cover of the Bible, with which Bible Society Malaysia had fully complied. Since then, confiscated Bibles were returned, and BSM had imported and distributed more than 300,000 Malay-language Bibles throughout East and Peninsula Malaysia without any problem from the Home Ministry.

What happened back in January?

On 2^nd January 2014, a team of JAIS (Selangor Islamic Religious Department) officers together with two policemen raided Bible Society premises and carted away a total of 351 Malay language Bibles, Gospel of Luke booklets and Iban (a Malayo-Polynesian language) Bibles. They also arrested two Bible Society officials, Lee Min Choon (President) and Sinclair Wong (Project Manager) and took them to the local police station.

While the Islamic authorities were lodging their police report, I accompanied my two colleagues at the police station and spoke to reporters. News of the raid and arrest spread like wild fire on the internet. We were calm and confident that the JAIS raid was wrong.

While JAIS officers were leaving the police station, they requested the two Bible Society officials come  to their headquarters to be questioned the following week. We went to the JAIS office as scheduled to help them with the investigation. Min Choon and Sinclair were called into a room for questioning and their statements were recorded. While leaving, we were interviewed by journalists and reporters.

In the next two/three months, the Islamic authorities took Sinclair for another round of questioning. Two more Bible Society officials were also called in.

Thankfully, in June 2014, the Attorney General cleared us of any offence and required JAIS to return the seized Bibles. They have so far not complied with the AG’s order.

How did BSM make the decision to move to Kuala Lumpur? How have you personally thought through the tension between staying and facing persecution versus going to where BSM can have more freedom? Was it a difficult decision?

Since the JAIS raid, we realised that the Prime Minister’s 10-point plan doesn’t provide full protection to Bible Society in states like Selangor.

We also realised that the State authorities can’t protect us as they have no control over the Islamic authorities who report to the Islamic Religious Council, which advises the Sultan of Selangor (head of Islam).

JAIS has repeatedly declared that they have the authority and power to raid, seize and arrest anybody as they deem necessary.

We have been advised by our lawyers that they can’t touch Bible Society Malaysia if we relocate to a federally controlled area like Kuala Lumpur.

Until the State law is changed, it’s only right for the Bible Society to change its registered office to somewhere it can find protection. We will continue to operate in our old offices, but without the controversial Bibles. In the meantime, Bible Society Malaysia will set up the KL office and and new outlets in three other locations, God willing. From the KL base we can still distribute the Malay language Bibles which contain the word “Allah”.

What do you think the future looks like for Christian organisations like Bible Society in Malaysia? Is the influence of the Islamic authorities growing?

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8 & 9, ESV)

Although we face growing challenges from extremist groups, we believe that the more they try to restrict God’s Word
, the more blessings will come forth for BSM and Christian organisations in Malaysia. Here are some of the ways God has blessed us in the last five years:

a) 5000 Bibles were seized in 2009 and God responded with a Federal 10-point solution in 2011, resulting in a miraculous 1-million free Malay language Bible distribution project pledged by sponsors to Bible Society Malaysia, and so far, more than 300,000 Malay language Bibles had been distributed throughout the country.

b) Islamic authorities raided Bible Society Malaysia in January 2014, but we were given free national and international media publicity which helped us to gain more empathy and support from the Christian community while motivating and mobilising us to expand and enlarge our presence throughout the country