That is exactly how Malaysian authorities are proceeding: the content of the Bible is now a controlled substance. Which is easier to score in Malaysia nowadays -- hydrocodone or a shipment of Malay-language Bibles?
Once again, Qur'an 29:46 does say "Our Allah and your Allah is One, and unto Him we surrender," but it is a talking point for Islamic proselytizing, and a one-way line of discourse in a manner in which a non-Muslim would be prohibited from preaching to a Muslim under Islamic law.
The intention of this Islamic supremacist game is twofold: first, as always, there is the general desire to remind unbelievers who's boss. But if Malay-speaking Christians relent and cede their right to the name of God in their own language, it will also make it that much easier for Muslims to portray them as polytheists, creating excuses for further hostility and oppression. "Churches in Malaysia reject Bibles held up and desecrated by the government," by Debra Chong for Asia News, March 17:
KUALA LUMPUR, March 17 — The Christian community said today that it is appalled by what it says is the Najib administration’s desecration of 5,100 holy books shipped in from Indonesia and has flat out refused to collect the Port Klang shipment.
The Christian Federation of Malaysia (CFM), which represents over 90 per cent of churches in the country, insisted that Putrajaya immediately drop the conditions imposed for the release of two shipments of Malay Bibles totalling 35,000 copies seized from Port Klang and Kuching port.
Last night, the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) was told its shipment of 5,100 Alkitab—as the Malay Bibles are called—were stamped with the Home Ministry’s official seal, as per the conditions imposed for the release issued two days ago, without its prior permission.
The first requires the importers to stamp directly on the cover of each of the 35,000 copies the following words: “Peringatan: ‘Al Kitab Berita Baik’ ini untuk kegunaan penganut agama Kristian sahaja. Dengan perintah Menteri Dalam Negeri”
The cover of the Bibles would be stamped with the department’s official seal and dated as well.
The second condition requires the importers to stamp a serial number on each copy as if to demarcate copies from the released shipment and to enable the book to be traced back to the port of import.
Such paranoia makes the faith of Malaysia's Muslim establishment look fragile and weak. The message they send in being so afraid of a book -- of being afraid of the availability of the Bible -- is not one of temporal or spiritual strength.
“This means that the Bahasa Malaysia Bible is now treated as a restricted item, and the Word of God has been made subject to the control of man. This is wholly offensive to Christians,” the CFM said in a strongly worded statement today signed by its chairman, Bishop Ng Moon Hing.
The umbrella body refuted government claims it had reached a compromise, saying it had never agreed that its holy books should be endorsed to say, “It is only for Christians”.
“Any person who respects the Holy Scriptures of any religion would be appalled by this action. We will never accede to any desecration of the Bible since the Word of God to us is sacred,” it said.
Pointing to a 1982 order issued under the Internal Security Act (ISA), the CFM said nowhere in the law is it stated that any form of words had to be endorsed on any copy of the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia. “Given that copies may already have been endorsed, we will not take delivery of those endorsed copies,” it added.
The CFM said it also wholly rejects the federal government’s argument that the Bible in Bahasa Malaysia is “prejudicial to the national interest and security of Malaysia”. It condemned the government’s treatment of its holy books as “subversive publication”.
The CFM said Christian Malaysians have always acted in good faith and with great patience to reach a peaceful end to religious dispute that would not compromise their beliefs. “But that good faith has not been reciprocated by the government,” it said.
It further accused Putrajaya of having moved the “goal posts” over the years “through a systematic imposition of unreasonable conditions and restrictions”....Hat tip: Jihad Watch
