Malaysia drawing rules to stop unnecessary seizure of Christian materials

The Malaysian government is drawing up a set of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for relevant authorities to prevent the unnecessary seizure of Christian religious material.  Sources in the Home Ministry said that SOPs were being prepared for use by various authorities, such as Customs and police.  "We hope the SOPs will be a reality soon," said Tan Sri Joseph Kurup, lawmaker and minister in the Prime Minister's Office, after handing over 130 religious books and 290 compact discs to the Protestant Church of Sabah (PCS) on Wednesday. On 25 October, customs officials at Kuala Lumpur International Airport seized them from Rev Maklin Masiau, a Lutheran pastor of a church in Sabah, because they contained the word "Allah" as the God of the Bible.  The Lutheran minister was coming back from a trip to Medan, Indonesia. He had travelled abroad to get religious material for Protestant communities in Sabah to use for the upcoming Christmas celebrations and events.  In recent years, Malaysia's Christian minority has been the victim of targeted attacks, including church burning, the desecration of Christian graves and the seizure of 300 Bibles in January.  The use of the word Allah to describe the Christian God is behind such violence.  Indeed, what started out as a long-standing legal battle between the government in Kuala Lumpur and the Catholic weekly The Herald - whose petition was rejected on 23 June - has now become a national controversy.  (Source: AsiaNews)