Bibles Confiscated at Airport in Malaysia
by Staff
February 12, 2008
(christiansunite.com) - On January 28, a customs officer confiscated two boxes containing 32 Bibles from a Christian woman in the Kuala Lumpur airport as she was returning from the Philippines. When the officer asked Juliana Nichols to open the boxes she was carrying and declare their contents, she produced a letter from her parish priest stating that the English Bibles were meant for use in her church. The officer told her that the texts needed to be cleared with the Internal Security Ministry's Control Division of Publications and Al-Quran Texts and seized them. The general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, Reverend Hermen Shastri, issued a press statement on February 4 that called for the immediate release of the Bibles and asked for an official apology from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department.
"The Council of Churches is flabbergasted that such acts are happening in our country with such frequency and impunity," said Shastri. "We want to state categorically that the Bible is Holy Scripture for Christians.... No authority on earth should deny Christians the right to possess, read and travel with their Bibles." The Bibles have since been returned to Nichols, according to reports received this week.
This is only the most recent in a number of troubling incidents in Malaysia that would seem to signal a declining level of religious liberty for religious minorities. Pray that freedom of religion will be upheld for all people in Malaysia. Pray that Christians in Malaysia will rest in the promises of God's provision and strength as they serve Him amid rising opposition (Hebrews 10:32-39).
For more information on the difficulties facing Christians in Malaysia, go to www.persecution.net/country/malaysia.htm.
