The Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) had interpreted the law "wrongly" and made a "terrible mistake" in the Bible Society Malaysia raid last January, said BSM's former president.
However, Lee Min Choon, who was arrested by Jais during a raid over the Malay and Iban copies of the Bible at the BSM premises, called on Christians to forgive the Islamic authority.
Lee said that although the attorney-general's (AG) statement that the case is closed vindicates BSM, as Christians, they should emulate Jesus who was forgiving.
"I call upon Christians to forgive Jais. They were doing their job but they had wrongly interpreted the law.
"Nobody is perfect, everybody makes mistakes," he wrote on his blog that chronicled the legal tussle of the Bahasa Malaysia Bible, Alkitab.
Urging the Church to put the matter behind it, Lee also called on Jais to return the 321 copies of the Bible in the Bahasa Malaysian and Iban languages it seized.
Lee, a lawyer, said he would not sue Jais for the arrest, despite now having an "iron-clad" case against the agency.
"I forgave Jais a long time ago and have no intention to sue to punish it in any way.
"The attorney-general's announcement is better than any court judgment.
"There is nothing to be gained from a law suit except to satisfy a lust for vengeance. This is un-Christian."
'Jais wrong from Day 1'
Lee and BSM office manager Sinclair Wong were arrested during the raid at the Petaling Jaya premises, where Jais seized the holy books for allegedly contravening a Selangor enactment which bans the use of the word 'Allah' by non-Muslims.
Yesterday, Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said after reviewing Jais' investigation papers and the Home Ministry's testimony, his office concluded that the holy books were not a security threat and did not breach the enactment.
Gani said that this was because the Alkitab is a compilation of the Old and New Testaments and is an essential text for Christians.
The Selangor government had sought advice from the AG on whether the copies of the Bible that were seized should be returned.
Meanwhile, Lee also thanked God for his fortitude.
He said the past six months have been "trying" for him and Wong, although they always knew, from the moment the ordeal began, that Jais had made a "terrible mistake".
"(It) has been a trying experience to endure six months of uncertainty of whether we are lawbreakers or law-abiding citizens until the nation’s highest legal officer confirmed that the Malay Bible did not breach any of the laws of Malaysia or its states," Lee said.
He also urged Jais to put in measures to ensure such incidents do not recur.
Gerakan: Return bibles immediately
Meanwhile Gerakan Youth chief Tan Keng Liang called on Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim to "immediately order Jais" to "immediately return" the seized bibles following the AG's conclusions.
"The AG Chambers has already stated its stand on the matter, and there’s no longer any reason for the Selangor Pakatan government not to return these Bible copies to BSM," Tan said in a statement today.
He insisted that the AG had "nothing to do with the seizure of the Bible by Jais" and the raid should have been resolved much earlier as "Jais is within the purview of the Selangor Pakatan government".
This is contrary to the Selangor Islamic Council (Mais) statement in January, in which it said Jais has the Yang di-Pertuan Agong's mandate and is not answerable to the federal nor state governments.
Meanwhile MCA vice-president Chew Mei Fun echoed Tan in laying the blame squarely on Khalid's government.
Chew berated the MB for pushing the blame on the federal government.
"MCA and the other BN component parties have mooted and abided by the 10-point agreement which allows non-Muslim publications to use the word Allah so long as the words 'For Christians only' is printed on the cover.
"Thus, it is irresponsible for Pakatan to try and shift the blame to us," she said in a statement today.
Despite the 10-point solution, the federal government is still engaged in a court appeal against the lifting of the ban on the Catholic weekly publication, Herald, on the use of the word 'Allah'.
Jais had acted against BSM based on a similar ban enacted in the Selangor Islamic law when BN was ruling the state.
In the latest development this afternoon, Khalid instructed Selangor executive councillor Salehen Mukhyi to assist Jais to return all the seized materials to BSM.
Malaysiakini
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