DEWAN Bahasa dan Pustaka (DBP) is not the right authority to translate the Bible into Bahasa, Sabah Council of Churches president Bishop Melter Jiki Tais said.

“We have qualified people among Christian groups to do the translation and they are not ordinary Christians. DBP is not the authority to translate Bibles. 

“Besides, we don’t need DBP to authorise the publication because the federal constitution guarantees the freedom of religion and to express our beliefs,” he told The Malaysian Insight. 

Tais was commenting over the call by lawyer Mohamed Haniff Khatri Abdulla that DBP provide an official Bahasa translation of the Bible.

The church leader said this when met at the Sabah state assembly where he had paid a courtesy visit to Chief Minister Musa Aman. 

Tais had earlier briefed and invited Musa to the Kota Kinabalu Christmas day celebration at Padang Merdeka.  

When asked on Bahasa-speaking Christians’ use of the word “Allah” for “God”, Tais said Sabah was different from other states as it had stronger religious tolerance that was supported and promoted by the state’s leaders. 

“Although in 1973, amendments were made to make Islam the official religion of Sabah, Sabahan Christians are still free to use the word ‘Allah’,” he said. 

“In Sabah, the chief minister himself had given us the assurance, so whatever is said by politicians, it doesn’t reflect the stand of the church.” – November 21, 2017.