By Richard Chia
SELANGOR — On 30 November 2024, the Bible Society Malaysia (BSM) launched the Alkitab Kudus Malaysia (BM Formal), Alkitab Berita Baik (Edisi Studi) and the Iban Study Bible (Trial Edition), during its 40th anniversary celebration held in PJ Evangelical Free Church, Petaling Jaya.
The event was attended by more than 100 persons invited from many churches in Malaysia, including the Catholic Church and representatives from the Bible Society of Indonesia.
BSM embarked on the Alkitab Kudus Malaysia translation in the year 2011, to meet a long-standing demand from the BM-speaking churches. It is a formal translation of the bible closer to the original text, and will be mainly used for scholarly research, study and preaching purposes.
The Alkitab Berita Baik study bible took almost 20 years to complete. This bible was the result of the demand from the BM-speaking churches for a good study bible in Malaysia. The Iban Study Bible (Trial Edition )was also in the pipeline since the year 2015, to serve the Iban community in Sarawak and elsewhere in Malaysia.
At the launching, Ms Tan Hwee Yong, one of the translators, read out several verses from different parts of the Alkitab Kudus Malaysia. A token of appreciation was also given to Rev Dr Anwar Tjen and Rev Dr Daniel See, who were the translation consultants for the Alkitab Kudus Malaysia and Alkitab Berita Baik (Edisi Studi) respectively.
Rev Mathew Punnoose, the General Secretary for BSM, gave a brief sharing of the history and achievements of BSM, beginning from the founding years of Bible Society in Wales, United Kingdom in the year 1804, until the formation of the Malaysian chapter in 1984.
He highlighted an impressive list of local bibles translated and published in Malaysia in the last 30 years, and the many new ongoing language projects that are underway.
In his presentation, Rev Mathew highlighted many challenges faced by BSM in its past 30 years, especially in Semenanjung Malaysia. He also mentioned the lack of sufficient warehouse space to facilitate inventory and logistics management of its locally printed bibles.
In conjunction with its 40th anniversary, BSM also launched its building fund to buy a larger warehouse space in Selangor.
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