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The customs officers 'shouldn't have detained them. You shouldn't do anything with these religious books,' the official said. 'They didn't countercheck with us. They just passed the buck to us.' -- PHOTO: ST FILE
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KUALA LUMPUR - A MALAYSIAN government official said on Tuesday that customs officers were wrong to seize 32 Bibles from a Christian traveller, after church groups alleged that it was another sign of religious intolerance in this Muslim-majority country.
Ms Juliana Nicholas, a Malaysian national from whom the Bibles were taken on Jan 28, has been told she can collect the Bibles back, said a senior official from the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit. He declined to be named, citing protocol.
Ms Nicholas was stopped by Royal Malaysian Customs officials at an airport in Kuala Lumpur when she returned from the Philippines. The Bibles were subsequently passed to the Internal Security Ministry.
The ministry official indicated the confiscation was arbitrary and wrong.
The customs officers 'shouldn't have detained them. You shouldn't do anything with these religious books,' the official said. 'They didn't countercheck with us. They just passed the buck to us.'
By acknowledging its mistake, the government is apparently hoping to placate Christian groups and other minorities who have become increasingly worried that their constitutionally guaranteed right to worship is being gradually eroded in Malaysia.
They cite a string of cases including demolition of Hindu temples, a recent ban on the word Allah from Malay-language Christian literature, and court judgments favoring Muslims in disputes with non-Muslims.
About 60 per cent of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays. The remaining 40 per cent are mainly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus from the minority Chinese, Indian and other communities.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been criticised for not doing enough to stem the rise of Islamic tendencies in the country, which many blame on overzealous Muslims in positions of authority.
Ms Nicholas, a 44-year-old missionary, confirmed that she had been told she could pick up the Bibles. She said she is willing to forget about the matter.
'I just don't want it to happen again. It's like you've done a criminal offence when they take you (into the customs office at the airport) and everyone is looking at you,' she said.
The Customs Department said on Monday that the Bibles were seized to check if they were being imported for commercial purposes.
But Ms Nicholas said the customs officers disregarded a letter by her parish priest stating the Bibles were not for sale but church use.
She said she had brought Bibles from Philippines before because they were cheaper there, and had never been stopped.
'Now they are more fanatic,' she said. -- AP
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