KUALA LUMPUR, March 10 — The Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) is considering legal action against the home ministry over a shipment of Malay language Bibles seized and left languishing at Port Klang since 2009, an issue which has caused unhappiness among local Christian groups.

The bibles have become a source of controversy because it contains the word “Allah”, which the majority Malay-Muslim community here believe cannot be used by non-Muslims to refer to their deities.

“I saw the news report and in the meantime we at BSM are having some discussions before an official response,” its general secretary, Dr Simon Wong, told The Malaysian Insider today in a text message.

Wong was referring to a news report yesterday citing the ministry as denying it had confiscated and detained 5,000 Malay language bibles imported from Indonesia.

The ministry clarified in a statement that the bibles actually had been refused entry into Malaysia for not fulfilling the ministry’s requirements, national news agency, Bernama reported.

The ministry was responding to the National Evangelical Christian Fellowship’s (NECF) claim that the ministry had conducted the seizure.

NECF secretary-general Sam Ang, writing in its bulletin, claimed the ministry had confiscated and detained the bibles in Port Klang since the year before last, and continued to hold them although the Cabinet had approved the release of the consignment.

The ministry also said in its statement that a letter of refusal dated June 26, 2010 had been sent to the importer, BSM, which it also said had yet to claim the cargo.

But Wong has said he has papers to prove the ministry wrong.

BSM has been formally applying for the bibles’ release since learning of their seizure by ministry officials in March 2009.