http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/why-no-action-on-mass-conversion-into-islam-ask-sabah-christians
Sabah religious authorities have been asked to “nullify without further delay” the mass conversion of natives into Islam that had taken place in the state, which Christian leaders said were performed fraudulently.
President of the Protestant Church in Sabah, Reverend Jensey Mojuin, addressing the monthly ethnic Kadazandusun Christians’ gathering in Pitas this morning to sound their latest mamangkis, said no action had been taken despite police reports lodged on the matter.
"Three months had passed since the 'shameful' conversion of about 64 people, including children, from three villages – namely Kampung Layung Maliau, Dowokon and Sosop.
“Despite lodging police reports, no concrete action has been taken," Mojuin said.
He said the inaction could only mean that the “extremist group” which performed the conversion “are enjoying the support and protection of some powerful people”.
He did not say who the powerful people were but the group reportedly was a Selangor-based Islamic non-governmental organisation known for its extremist religious views.
Mojuin said the
mass conversion in Pitas, a majority of whom were followers of his church, was unjust and fraudulent and had threatened the peace and religious harmony enjoyed for so long in Sabah.
Pitas, up one of the “dog ears” of Sabah, is reportedly one of the poorest district in the state.
To get to Kampung Layung Maliau, one of the remotest villages in the district, is a three-hour walk from the suspension bridge across Sungai Penipak.
Villagers here are largely subsistence farmers planting tapioca, vegetables and maize. The village has neither electricity nor running water.
The 33 “converted” villagers there claimed on New Year's Day, they were deceived into converting by the group, saying their presence in the Pitas town mosque where they were asked to go to was only to receive financial assistance.
They claimed they were promised RM800 per head but in the envelope they were given after signing some documents contained only RM100.
They said they were illiterate and no one explained what the form was about.
“This so-called mass conversion is, therefore, illegal,” said Mojuin, adding that it was done with deception.
“These extremists took advantage of those who are illiterate and extremely poor to trick them into thinking that they were bringing welfare aid from the government.
“Some accepted the so-called welfare aid and were asked to sign a document.
“This document is now used as proof that they have agreed to become Muslims,” he said.
Mojuin also slammed the government policy where Sabah Bumiputeras with a “bin” or “binti” in their names were automatically listed as Muslims in their MyKad.
That, he said, was “Putrajaya’s MyKad Islamisation of Bumiputera Christians in Sabah”.
On the use of the word “Allah”, Mojuin said “regardless of what Putrajaya or any earthly courts may say or do”, Bumiputera Christians in Sabah would continue to use the word “Allah” as their forefathers had done so.
“Let us make it very clear about that.
"Further, both the Sabah and Sarawak governments have assured us that we can continue to use the word as this has been used for generations."
According to the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, a 1960 census showed Muslims only make 37.9 % of the population.
In 2010, the number was 67.4%.
Opposition Bingkor assemblyman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan in a recent media statement blamed the sharp rise in the number of Muslims to the federal government's “deliberate” and “wrongful” issuance of MyKad to illegal Muslim immigrants for “political purposes”.
To Mojuin, the issuance of the MyKads to these illegal immigrants had made “anak negeri Sabah” (Sabah Bumiputera) not only victims of political Islam but also race-based economic policies that have excluded and dispossessed them of their rights.
He said native lands have been stolen from them and given to non-natives.
“Illegal foreigners with illegal identity cards are now enjoying more rights and privileges than us the anak negeri of this land.”
The mamangkis is an old Kadazandusun war cry used by their ancestors to rally warrior troops for battle.
It has now been adopted as a Christian clarion call for religious revival and freedom of religion.
The spiritual revival campaign started last December with a gathering in Penampang. It has since been held in Ranau and Nabawan. – April 12, 2014.
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We were tricked into converting to Islam, claim Christian villagers in remote Sabah district (20 January 2014)
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/we-were-tricked-into-converting-to-islam-claim-christian-villagers-in-remot
More Christians converted in Sabah than reported, say pastors (24 January 2014)
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/more-christians-converted-in-sabah-than-reported-say-pastors
Sabah Christians meet today in bid to reverse conversions to Islam (4 February 2014)
http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/sabah-christians-meet-today-in-bid-to-reverse-conversions-to-islam
Amid rising religious tension in Malaysia, Christian interest groups in Sabah are meeting today to find ways to reverse the conversion of 64 natives who claimed they were tricked into converting to Islam last month.
The Malaysian Insider learnt that a lunch meeting in Kota Kinabalu on the matter will be chaired by United Pasokmomogun Kadazan Dusun Murut Organisation (Upko) president Tan Sri Bernard Dompok.
Upko is part of the ruling Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition but a source told The Malaysian Insider the meeting transcends political beliefs.
“Christians from both sides of the political divide, non-governmental organisations and a group of lawyers are banding together to help fellow Christians in trouble,” the source said.
The 64, including children as young as five, are from three remote villages, Kampung Layung Maliau, Dowokon and Sosop.
They alleged they were they were tricked into converting to Islam for a mere RM100.
Thirty-three from Kampung Layung Maliau, who were among those converted, had said a fellow villager, on returning from Pitas town on New Year's eve, told them that “some people from Kuala Lumpur” were giving financial assistance of RM800 which they had to collect in the town hall.
When they reached the town hall the next day to collect the promised assistance, they claimed they were instead asked to go to a nearby mosque where their particulars were taken and they were asked to place their thumbprint on a piece of paper.
All 33 are illiterate, with most of them being farmers.
The villagers had told The Malaysian Insider earlier that after they were processed, they were told to stand in a line and recite “some foreign words” after an imam.
It was after reciting the words that they were told they had been converted. A police report on the conversion was lodged a week later.
This allegation, however, was denied by Sabah Islamic authorities who had said that they merely carried out their religious duties and the paperwork which followed, but did not trick, coerce or persuade any Christian native to convert.
An official from the state Islamic Affairs Department said all the arrangements were handled by Muslim groups which had approached the department with a list of names from the three villages who were said to be interested in converting to Islam.
“They (Muslim groups) arranged everything. The religious officers were only there for conversion and registration purposes,” the official had told The Malaysian Insider.
Lawyers have said although it was not an offence in Malaysia for a Muslim to convert a person of a different faith into Islam, the authorities, however, could investigate the case for criminal elements if the claims of bribery, as the villagers alleged, were true.
Religious tension in the country was reignited last year when the Court of Appeal last October ruled that the Catholic weekly Herald could not use the word "Allah" in its publication.
The Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais) stoked further tension when it raided the Bible Society of Malaysia's premises and seized more than 300 Bibles, including the Bup Kudus, because they contained the word “Allah”.
When Catholic priest Father Lawrence Andrew, who is also the Herald editor, said Catholic churches in Selangor would continue to use the word “Allah” in its prayer service for its Bahasa Malaysia-speaking congregants, it sparked street protests by Malay rights groups and Selangor Umno.
It culminated in
the attempt to firebomb a church in Penang last week.
Christians make up about 10% of the country's population, or 2.6 million.
Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and are largely based in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book. – February 4, 2014.
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