KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Christian importers of Bibles that Malaysian officials detained are balking at conditions the government has imposed for their release, such as defacement of the sacred books with official stamps. In March, the Home Ministry stamped the words “This Good News (Malay) Bible is for use by Christians only” on 5,100 Bibles without consulting the importer, the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM), which initially refused to collect them as it disapproved of the conditions.
BSM has since collected them “to prevent the possibility of further acts of desecration” but will not sell them; rather it “will be respectfully preserved as museum pieces and as a heritage for the Christian Church in Malaysia.”
Another 30,000 Bibles detained since Jan. 12 remain in port after the Sarawak state Home Ministry told the local chapter of Gideons International that it could collect them if the organization would put the stamp on them. Gideons has thus far declined to do so, and a spokesman said April 5 that officials had already defaced the books with the stamp.
The government has made several attempts to try to appease the Christian community; on April 2, it issued a 10-point statement that included the lifting of restrictions to allow for the local printing and importation of Malay and other indigenous-language Bibles into the country.
No conditions were imposed on such Bibles in Sarawak and Sabah, but in West Malaysia, the Bibles must have the words “Christian publication” and the sign of the cross printed on the front covers. Most Christians remained skeptical. “It’s an assurance but we have been given such assurances before,” said Bolly Lapok, an Anglican priest.
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