KUALA LUMPUR — UMNO has lodged a police report over Malay-language Christian books that were found among flood relief items in Kelantan, claiming they could threaten the Muslim faith.
News website Utusan Online reported today (Feb 5) that the books titled “Isa Al-Masih Kalimatullah” (Jesus Christ the Word of God) and “Kisah Tentang Yesus Kristus” (The Story of Jesus Christ), which contained cartoons, were distributed by a non-governmental organisation (NGO) on January 21, together with food items and daily necessities to residents at Kampung Slow Machang in Pasir Mas.
The news report, however, did not mention if the Christian books contained the word “Allah”, the Arabic word for God that has been the contention of a few court cases involving a government ban and seizures of materials containing the word.
Muslim coalition Pembela said last month that the Catholic Church must no longer use the Malay language in its Herald weekly as continuing to do so was to challenge the Federal Court decision that upheld a government ban on the paper from describing God as “Allah”.
Christian compact discs (CDs) and books containing the word “Allah” were confiscated from a Sabahan at the Kuala Lumpur International 2 airport in Sepang last October and returned to him about two weeks later.
Two cases involving the right of Christians to use the word “Allah” remain pending in court, which are Sarawakian Jill Ireland Lawrence Bill’s suit against the Home Ministry for confiscating her Christian CDs and the Sabah Sidang Injil Borneo church’s suit over the seizure of children’s books.
Source: www.themalaymailonline.com
