Pakatan Rakyat leaders called on Christians in Sarawak to reject the BN government after the Christian Federation of Malaysia confirmed that the Malay-language Bible row has not been resolved and also indicated there had been pressure to settle the issue ahead of the Sarawak elections balloting day on April 16.
“All three – the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and the Chief Minister – have been caught out in a lie to Christians in Sarawak and throughout Malaysia," Sarawak PKR chief Baru Bian told Malaysia Chronicle.
"All three said the issue had been resolved. They even tried to claim credit so that the community would forgive them. But it is not really forgiveness that they seek, they just want our votes. Why should we give it to them? Do they deserve it?”
Earlier on Monday, DPM Muhyiddin Yassin had accused the opposition of trying to stir anger and hatred for the BN by harping on the issue, insisting it had already been resolved “in the BN spirit”.
Hot on his heels was Prime Minister Najib Razak, who too said that the issue had been settled. Najib even went a step further. He gave himself a pat on the back for making “a good decision” and “giving attention to Christians in Sarawak”.
"I asked Datuk Idris Jala to negotiate on the matter and everything he did had my blessings. So it should no longer be an issue. We give attention to Christians in Sarawak,” Bernama reported Najib as saying.
As for Sarawak Chief Minister Taib Mahmud, he fired the first salvo on Saturday.
“It was I who talked to the prime minister. I said to him that it was a stupid idea to stamp serial numbers. I told him it should be stopped and he said 'yes I agree and I'll put a stop to it'. So he went and stopped the serial numbers. Now there's no more of this nonsense," Malaysiakini reported Taib as saying.
Lies
But as it turned out, all three BN leaders lied to the Christian community in one way or another.
A 10-point proposal by Minister in the PM’s Department, Idris Jala, had been announced last week. On Saturday night, Idris issued a surprise press statement that Bible importers BSM and Gideon had agreed to collect the 35,100 copies of Alkitab detained at the ports.
Idris gave the impression that Christian leaders had agreed to his proposal, which lifts all conditions on the importation of the Malay Bibles to Sabah and Sarawak, but requires the words “Christian Publication” and the sign of the cross to be stamped on the front cover of the books sent to the peninsula.
Christians had condemned the Idris proposal on the grounds that it would divide their community and feared that they would be forced to accept the double-standards inherent in the policy.
The confusion spurred Catholic publication, the Herald, to publish a fact-sheet in a Q&A format.
Pressure
Author of the fact-sheet, Rev Father Michael Chua confirmed that the Alkitab issue was still unresolved. According to him, the Christian Federation of Malaysia had yet to meet, let alone decide on the 10-point plan.
“No. Since, this is a new offer from the government, the Christian Federation of Malaysia would need to meet and deliberate on this matter,” said Rev Michael.
“There is no hurry for us to come up with an answer for the government’s latest offer, even though the government seem to have a dateline (Sarawak election on April 16). We should not be dictated by the timetable set by the government but rather the prompting of the Holy Spirit in our deliberations. “
The CFM clarification confrimed what many Christians had secretly suspected - that the BN leaders were lying.
Michael's indication the authorities had also tried to put pressure on the CFM to reach a decision favoring the BN government and before the Sarawak balloting took place also sparked widepsread anger.
“This is a desperate move by the BN to misrepresent the true picture of the Alkitab issue and the Christians in Sarawak would be justified in rejecting the BN government come polling day,” PKR vice president Sivarasa Rasiah told Malaysia Chronicle.
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