A Letter from a former student of mine who has a Master's degree from London University.
Dear Friends,
Last Wednesday, the Home Ministry of Malaysia announced a ban on 35 books, most of them Christian in the national language (BM), which huge chunks of East Malaysian churches pray, read & worship in.
More serious was the ban on the Iban Bible (Ibans-Christians in Sarawak). Today, key church leaders issued a challenge to the gov't to explain this ban. The statement said"...To find the Bup Kudus (Iban Bible) banned now has caused confusion, fear, anxiety and alarm among the Christian community in Sarawak".
The ban affects hundreds of thousands of native Christians. A 3-year jail sentence is stipulated for possession of it and a Malaysian Dollar $20.000 fine( US $ 1= 3,80).
It will be a grim Easter this year. Please pray for boldness among ethnic Christians. Pray for the Sarawak Council of Churches & other Christian bodies in Malaysia. In the 1980s the Alkitab- the Indonesian Bible was banned. It was subsequently lifted after strong protests from Church leaders.
John William (Malaysia)
The Rev'd Dr. Peter Toon
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