.
"Christians
from Malaysia's rural states of Sabah
and Sarawak in Borneo...have
moved in droves to Selangor and other parts of peninsular Malaysia in
recent years to look for work."...
1/2/14, "Malaysia's
Islamic authorities seize Bibles as Allah row deepens," Reuters
"Islamic
authorities in Malaysia on Thursday seized 321 Bibles from a Christian
group because they used the word Allah to refer to God, signaling
growing intolerance that may inflame ethnic and religious tension in the
Southeast Asian country.
The raid comes after a
Malaysian court in October ruled that the Arabic word was exclusive to
Muslims, most of whom are ethnic Malays, the largest ethnic group in the
country alongside sizeable Christian, Hindu and Buddhist minorities....
On
Thursday, the top Islamic
authority in the richest and most populous state of Selangor seized the
Malay-language Bibles from the Bible Society. The society said authority
officials escorted two of its officials to a police station to make
statements after which they were released on bail.
"We
were told that we were under investigation for breaking a Selangor
state law banning non-Muslims from using the word Allah," said Bible
Society of Malaysia Chairman Lee Min Choon.
The raid is a marked escalation from the occasional seizure at border checkpoints of Bibles imported from Indonesia. It was the first time Islamic authorities have entered premises belonging to a Christian organization to carry out a raid.
Christians
from Malaysia's rural states of Sabah and Sarawak in Borneo, who have
used the word Allah for centuries, have moved in droves to Selangor and
other parts of peninsular Malaysia in recent years to look for work....
"There are laws in Selangor and there
was a decree by his Royal Highness the Sultan. So what they are doing
is carrying out the
Sultan's decree," Deputy Prime Minister and UMNO
Deputy President Muhyiddin Yassin was quoted by media as saying.
"They are not doing anything against the law."
The
Sultan of Selangor, one of nine sultans who serve in turn as titular
Malaysian head of state, decreed last year that non-Muslims must refrain
from using Allah in Bibles. He asked Muslims to unite against "bad
elements" that misuse the word.
The
increasingly assertive stand by holders of the largely ceremonial
office show that Muslim leaders have become increasingly vocal about
their role in defending Islam.
In
2010, arsonists firebombed several churches over the initial ruling
that allowed the Catholic newspaper to use the Arabic word. Two Malay
men were found guilty for setting fire to one of the churches."
.
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