Activists back elders on Oath Stone

Ex-CM Harris told to get real about the state of religious freedom in Sabah.

KOTA KINABALU: The UK-based Borneo’s Plight in Malaysia Foundation (BoPIM) has backed the PKR Council of Elders (COE) in its call for a return to the values etched in the Keningau Oath Stone.

In a statement criticising former Sabah chief minister Harris Salleh for his dismissal of the call, BoPIM President Daniel John Jambun said freedom of worship was indeed under threat in the state.

The Oath Stone is a monument commemorating the terms under which Sabah and Sarawak joined the Federation of Malaya to form Malaysia in 1963.

“Harris appears to be in a state of denial over the deep frustrations the Christian majority in Sabah has felt since the dark days of the iron-fisted rule of the Mustapha regime,” said Daniel.

“Has he forgotten that his Berjaya government fell in 1985 over the freedom of worship issue?

“Harris is suddenly under the delusion that the freedom of worship stated in the Federal Constitution actually translates into practice in both letter and spirit.”

According to news reports, Harris has taken issue with COE’s statement last Thursday that the federal and state governments must preserve “the essence of the Oath Stone”.

Daniel said: “It’s an open secret that priests have been expelled by Mustapha and others, Allah has become an issue, the Bible and the Herald have been seized, and sham conversions carried out in Sabah by Muslim NGOs from the peninsula are recognised by the National Registration Department (NRD) and the Islamic authorities.

“Harris has pointed out his frustrations in the book ‘Harris Salleh of Sabah’, where he disclosed that he was under pressure from Kuala Lumpur on Islamisation.” The BoPIM chief said he and the head of the Sidang Injil Borneo, Jerry Dusing, had to go to Court recently over the seizure of the Herald and the Bible.

“The 20 Points (of the Malaysia Agreement) and the Oath Stone, stressing that Sabah would have no religion, were violated by Mustapha’s amendment to the Sabah Constitution in 1973, an unconstitutional amendment made by an unlawful government,” he said.

Daniel also referred to reported cases of the NRD issuing Islamic MyKads to Christians who had “bin” or “binti” in their names.

“If they protest, they are told to go to the Syariah Court and get a declaration that they are no longer Muslim,” he said.

“Why should a Christian get a declaration from the Syariah Court that he’s no longer a Muslim?” Daniel said the nation should no longer ignore the reality that non-Muslim Orang Asal were being denied their rightful place in the sun.

“The fact that the ruling Barisan Nasional almost lost the Ranau seat

last year over the Allah issue serves as a warning,” he added.