Improved, simpler rules for church imports to Sabah
Published on: Friday, April 17, 2015
Kuching: Putrajaya is in the process of gathering feedback and views from church leaders and importers of religious materials in its bid to formulate special guidelines for Christian goods bound for east Malaysia, Tan Sri Joseph Kurup (pic) said. After a dialogue session with Sarawak church leaders Thursday, the minister in the Prime Minister's Department announced that he and Home Ministry officials will meet with stakeholders in Sabah on the matter next Friday."The importers from the two states may be ignorant of the rules and regulations when bringing in religious materials from outside Malaysia.ADVERTISEMENT "That is what was happening when a consignment of religious materials, bound for Sabah, was stopped at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in October last year," he said after opening the dialogue session with local church leaders, importers and Home Ministry officials. Kurup said the government hopes to come up with "improved and simplified" procedures for the shipment of religious materials to east Malaysian states. These new SOPs, he added, will be unique to east Malaysia."I want SOPs especially meant for Sarawak and Sabah because we are given the freedom to import all religious materials including the Malay-language Bibles with the word 'Allah'," he said.He said importers must have import permits when bringing in religious materials in large quantities, just like any other items that are brought into the country. ADVERTISEMENT "If we do not have documents to indicate that these religious materials are for use in Sabah, then the Customs officers would definitely detain the materials," he said.As an example, Kurup referred to the case in Sabah last year that saw Customs officials seize 574 books, 419 CDs and five DVDs at klia2, which local church pastor Maklin Masiau had brought in from Medan, Indonesia. The materials, containing the word "Allah", were later released to Maklin.
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During the release of the materials in November, Kurup announced Putrajaya's plan to formulate special SOPs for the importation of religious materials into east Malaysia. In his speech at the opening of the dialogue here earlier today.Kurup also assured Sarawak church leaders that there is no restriction on the use of the word "Allah" by the Christians in their state. He said the government is committed to the 10-point solution on the use of the word "Allah" among the Christians in Sarawak and Sabah and that they are allowed to import and distribute religious materials in Malay and indigenous languages The Al-Kitab is the Malay-language Bible widely used in churches in Sabah and Sarawak and the Bup Kudus is the Iban edition used only in Sarawak. "The Barisan Nasional government is a responsible government. We are sworn to protect the Federal Constitution and the freedom of Malaysians to practise their respective religious faith." The 10-point agreement drawn up before the Sarawak state elections in 2011 provided that there should be no curbs to import of Bibles in all languages, including those in Bahasa Malaysia and Bahasa Indonesia which contained the word "Allah". The 10-point solution, which allowed for the printing, importation and distribution of the Al- Kitab, was drawn up following the seizure of a shipment at a Kuching port. The opposition used the seizure as an issue of religious repression by the BN in the election.Last November, a Christian pastor from Sabah, Maklin Masiau, was detained and had Christians CDs and books he was carrying seized while on transit at the klia2.He was returning to Kota Kinabalu from Medan, Indonesia, through the airport in Sepang. He was reportedly carrying 574 books and 419 CDs. Masiau had first posted on his Facebook page that the CDs and books were seized by Customs Department officers because they contained the controversial word Allah. It was later clarified that they were seized as Maisau did not have an import permit for foreign publications brought into the country. Home Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi blamed the seizure on the failure of the Customs Department to coordinate the matter with his ministry. Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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To clear up the inter-departmental mess, Kurup said new guidelines would be drawn up to ensure that Christian materials bound for East Malaysia will not be confiscated at ports and airports.However, when asked on the "new" guideline, Kurup said there was none and that the existing guideline "was already there". He said the briefing today was to place emphasis on the proper paper work.