Malaysia: Bibles Confiscated at Airport

Compass Direct News reports that a customs officer on January 28 confiscated two boxes containing 32 Bibles at a low-cost carrier terminal from a citizen returning from a trip to the Philippines, further troubling Malaysian Christians beset by government curbs on press and religious freedoms. Online news agency Malaysiakini reported yesterday that Juliana Nichols produced a letter from her parish priest stating the English Bibles were meant for use in her church, but a customs officer told her the texts needed to be cleared with the Internal Security Ministry's Control Division of Publications and Al-Quran Texts. The Rev. Dr. Hermen Shastri, general secretary of the Council of Churches of Malaysia, said in a press statement that "the Bible is Holy Scripture for Christians" and "no authority on earth should deny Christians the right to possess, read and travel with their Bibles." He called for the immediate release of the Bibles and an official apology from the Royal Malaysian Customs Department.