Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - A Malaysian government official said Tuesday that customs officers were wrong to seize 32 Bibles from a Christian traveler, after church groups alleged that it was another sign of religious intolerance in this Muslim-majority country.
Juliana Nicholas, a Malaysian national from whom the Bibles were taken on Jan. 28, has been told she can go and collect the Bibles, said a senior official from the Internal Security Ministry's publications control unit. He declined to be named, citing protocol.
Nicholas was stopped by customs officials at an airport in Kuala Lumpur when she returned from the Philippines. The Bibles were subsequently passed to the Internal Security Ministry.
The ministry official indicated the confiscation was arbitrary and wrong.
The customs officers "shouldn't have detained them. You shouldn't do anything with these religious books," the official told The Associated Press. "They didn't countercheck with us."
By acknowledging its mistake, the government is apparently hoping to placate Christian groups and other minorities who have become increasingly worried that their constitutionally guaranteed right to worship is being gradually eroded in Malaysia.
They cite a string of cases including demolition of Hindu temples, a recent ban on the word Allah from Malay-language Christian literature, and court judgments favoring Muslims in disputes with non-Muslims.
About 60 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people are Muslim Malays. The remaining 40 percent are mainly Christians, Buddhists and Hindus from the minority Chinese, Indian and other communities.
Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has been criticized for not doing enough to stem the rise of Islamic tendencies in the country, which many blame on overzealous Muslims in positions of authority.
Nicholas, a 44-year-old missionary, confirmed that she had been told she could pick up the Bibles. She said she is willing to forget about the matter.
"I just don't want it to happen again. It's like you've done a criminal offense when they take you and everyone is looking at you," she told the AP.
The Customs Department said Monday that the Bibles were seized to check if they were being imported for commercial purposes.
But Nicholas said the customs officers disregarded a letter by her parish priest stating the Bibles were not for sale but church use.
She said she had brought Bibles from Philippines before because they were cheaper there, and had never been stopped.
"Now they are more fanatic," she said.