Anwar recalls reading the Bible six years in jailhttp://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/...-years-in-jail/
KAJANG: Anwar Ibrahim passed the time, when he was jailed in 1999 for six years for corruption, by reading the Bible every other day besides the Quran.
He did not say what comparisons he made.
The Opposition Leader was speaking at a largely Christian gathering at a church in Kajang, the Holy Family Church, which was the venue for a joint Deepavali-Christmas celebration.
He was expressing his embarrassment that over-zealous religious authorities in Selangor had seized copies of Malay and Iban Bibles for carrying the Arabic term Allah, for God, and initially refusing to return them.
“I could assume some difficulty although I don’t, in prison, other than reading the Quran, I can assure you every other day I would also look at the Bible,” he said in speaking directly to Father George the parish priest at the Holy Family Church. “I can give you quotes but not with Father George present because he is the authority.”
Turning to John in the Bible, the de facto Pakatan Rakyat (PR) Chief recalled that “you shall know the truth, and the truth will set you free” in dismissing falsehoods, racism and fanaticism.
“Do not worry because there are voices from a small group, including from the Malay Muslim community in the current administration, which showed the attitude which equates Islam with arrogance,” he advised. “We do not represent that view and respecting the rights of other religion does not lower our confidence in our faith.”
Anwar stressed that Selangor Menteri Besar Azmin Ali deserves every praise for persuading the religious authorities to return the seized Bibles within weeks of taking office after advising the Sultan that the holy books belonged to the Christians.
Supporters of the palace, miffed that Azmin was getting all the praise, had been quoted as saying in the media that the Menteri Besar had in fact nothing to do with the return of the Bibles and that credit should go to the Sultan.
Anwar did not touch on media reports that Christians and non-Christians alike throughout the country are upset and furious that the seized copies of the Bible which were returned by the Selangor Sultan on November 14 have been desecrated and defaced with a warning. It’s not known who desecrated and defaced them.
The warning, which has since gone viral on social media, reads in English in the Malay and Iban Bibles: “Strictly for non-Muslims usage only and shall not be published or used in any part of the state of Selangor pursuant to section 9 (1) Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Amongst Muslims) Enactment 1988.”
The warning is also in Malay above the English version.
The Bibles were seized by Selangor religious authorities from the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) bookshop in Petaling Jaya earlier this year.
They were handed over on Nov 14 by the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) to the Association of Churches of Sarawak (ACS) in a ceremony witnessed by the Sultan of Selangor. Azmin was also present. Rev Archbishop Bolly Lapok is ACS chairman.
This is a repeat incident.
In Mar 2011, the Home Ministry similarly not only stamped but serialized 5,000 copies of the Bible which were seized on 20 Mar, 2009 after holding the consignment worth RM70,000 at Kuching Port for two years.
The BSM then took the view in a statement that the desecrated and defaced Bibles could no longer be sold but would be archived as “heritage for Christians in Malaysia”.
Sarawak, like Sabah, is a majority Christian. There’s no religion in the Constitutions of the two Borneo nations in line with the Malaysia Agreement 1963, and constitutional documents like the 20 Points and 18 Points.
BSM has issued a statement asking the religious authorities in Selangor to explain why their 351 copies of the Bibles in Malay and Iban which were seized by them in January were returned only after they were desecrated and defaced with a warning.