Christians tortured for their faith in Malaysia

Gary Lane of CBN News recently travelled to Kuala Lumpur to investigate the government-sanctioned hostility against Christians.

In his travels, he observed hidden "purification centres" where many Christians are held. These centres are known to beat and torture Christians. Watch this video to see footage of a purification centre and to hear interviews with persecuted Christians (Length 5:09).


The March edition of The Voice of the Martyrs’ Newsletter shares other testimonies of believers in Malaysia standing firm in their faith at great cost. Be sure to sign up for your free copy today.

In mailboxes this week!

Look for the March issue of The Voice of the Martyrs newsletter in your mailbox this week!

In this issue:

• No God for the Malays: Malaysia is often upheld as the ideal model of a moderate Islamic society, abounding in cultural and religious tolerance. But the appearance of tolerance vanishes when ethnic Malays decide to convert from Islam to another religion. Read about several Malays who have faced the consequences for turning to Christ.

• Secret visit: The Malaysian government has called them places for Muslims to strengthen their faith, but for Christians who have left Islam, their experience is entirely different. Gary Lane brings you a short update on these Islamic Purification Centres with a special video link to view his report.

• Bibles for difficult situations: From William Tyndale’s small “pirate” edition Bible to a tiny Russian New Testament, printing methods have changed to accommodate getting Bibles into difficult areas, especially those hostile to the gospel. Read what VOM offices are doing to support such projects.

• Update on Somchi: You read her story in our Special Edition, now learn how Somchi of Laos is doing since her Bible was blamed for making her mother sick.

• Save the Date! Don’t miss the launch of VOM’s youth initiative Thirteen Three on Friday, April 13th and our Standing in the Fire prayer conference on Saturday, April 14th—both in Calgary, Alberta.

The Voice of the Martyrs newsletter is the flagship publication of The Voice of the Martyrs in Canada. Published monthly, it is available free of charge to anyone in Canada who requests it.

You can subscribe online here.

Islamic officials raid church in Malaysia

In Malaysia, Islamic religious officials
raided a church dinner without warning
or warrant.

On August 3, about 30 Islamic religious and police officials raided the Damansara Utama Methodist Church in Petaling Jaya, Malaysia, reports Agence France-Presse.

The raid took place while the church members were hosting a dinner for their welfare programs, which assist single mothers and HIV/AIDS victims.

Senior pastor Daniel Ho said the officials came in and started taking videos and photographs. They subjected the church members to “undue harassment” and took down the identification of all Muslims present in the building.

Islamic religious officials have previously voiced concerns about Muslims converting to Christianity, as conversion from Islam is illegal in the country.

Muslims make up about 60 per cent of Malaysia’s population while Christians make up about 9 per cent.

To read the entire article, click here.

Pray for Pastor Daniel’s church:

• Pray church members will continue to show love to those they have been ministering to, despite the opposition.
• Pray the Muslims affected by the raid would come to know Christ.
• Pray religious freedom will be respected in Malaysia.

Detained Bibles released in Malaysia

A seized Bible is stamped with the inscription
"For Christians Only."

Two shipments totaling approximately 30,000 Bibles detained by Malaysian port authorities in January were recently released, reported VOM USA and AsiaNews.

Authorities seized the Bibles, which had been imported from Indonesia for distribution in schools, churches and longhouses, because they claimed they could cause a conflict with an ongoing court case involving use of the word "Allah" in a Catholic newspaper.

Most Christians, however, believe the government is worried that the Bibles will be distributed to Muslim Malays, and see the seizure as part of a systematic plan to deny access to the Bible in Malay. Authorities had taken similar action in March 2009, when they detained 5,100 copies of the Good News Bible in Malay in Port Klang.

The government's decision to release this recent shipment came with the condition that the books are stamped with a serial number and the inscription "For Christians Only" on the cover. Malaysian Christian leaders have refused these terms, fearing the government would use the serial numbers to track the Bibles and penalize those who accepted them.

At last report, the Malaysian Bible Society has rejected the restrictions placed on the Bibles and is refusing to collect them.

Praise God for the release of these Bibles. Pray Christians in Malaysia will remain faithful in spite of opposition from those in authority. Pray they will know that they are not alone, but part of the Body of Christ. Pray these Bibles will somehow get into the hands of those who long for the life and truth found through Jesus Christ (John 14:6).

Should Christians be allowed to say 'Allah' in Malaysia?

A recent court case over a Catholic newspaper's use of the term 'Allah' has become a litmus test of tolerance in the multifaith country, reports The Christian Science Monitor.

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By Simon Montlake, / Correspondent
posted April 20, 2010 at 5:41 pm EDT

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia —
Father Andrew Lawrence pulls a fat red binder from a shelf inside his cramped office, where he edits a weekly Roman Catholic newspaper. Inside the binder are reams of documents from its decade-long dispute with Malaysia's government over the right to refer to God as "Allah," as Muslims do.

For a small paper like the Herald (circulation: 14,000), such a legal case can be ruinous. But the row has spiraled into a litmus test of tolerance and political maturity in this multifaith country of 28 million people.

The "Allah" row stirs strong emotions here in part because it is as much about race and language – and politics – as it is about religion. It also exposes the historical divisions between west and east Malaysia, where the majority of the country's roughly 1.4 million Roman Catholics live.

On Dec. 31, the Herald won a three-year battle in the High Court, which overturned a government ban on its use of "Allah." The verdict sparked small protests by Malay Muslims and a spate of attacks on Catholic churches, a Sikh temple, and three mosques, allegedly by Muslim agitators.

The government has obtained an injunction and appealed the verdict, arguing that the ban is essential for national security.

For centuries, Christian Malay speakers have prayed to Allah, the Arabic word for God. In neighboring Indonesia, a majority Muslim country with a near-identical language, the use of "Allah" by Christians is uncontroversial, as it is across much of the Middle East.

"It isn't complicated. We use it in our churches. It's part of our prayers," says Father Lawrence.

Opponents say that Christians can use other Malay words for their translations and should leave "Allah" for Muslims. "For me, 'Allah' shouldn't be used by other religions. If they use 'Allah,' our kids might get confused," says Nur Fadilla Zaaba, a resident.

The government has also used this argument, saying that it increases the risk of conversions of Muslims, which is illegal in Malaysia. The High Court rejected this and other similar arguments, pointing out that the Herald is sold only to Christians and "had never intended or caused any conflict, discord of misunderstanding" in its use of "Allah."

Opposition lawmakers claim that Malaysia's coalition-run government, dominated by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), uses the "Allah" issue to rally its base among Malay Muslims, who make up about 55 percent of the population.

Khairy Jamaluddin, a UMNO executive, argues that the party is trying to tamp down communal tensions. He says comparisons with Indonesia are misleading, as Islam has taken a more syncretic path there. "Malay Muslims have linguistic, religious, and ethnic ownership of the word because of the way that it came to Malaysia. For it to be used for a Christian God, it is an affront to them," he says.

While UMNO supports a ban, the opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party has argued that there is no theological reason for it. In recent years, the party has moved toward the center. It even invited Lawrence to speak on the issue, he says.

In his office, Lawrence pulls out a rare 1619 Latin-Malay Bible that translates "God" as "Allah." "We have every right to use this word," he says.