KOTA KINABALU, Aug 23 — The influx of religious politics here is beginning to manifest in incidents such as a protest against a cross at a mission school that were previously unheard of among the diverse communities of Sabah, according to academics in the state.

In a state that continues to grapple with the effects of the so-called “Project IC” that is believed to have fundamentally altered its religious demographics, the growing incidents involving groups of different faiths are also slowly eroding Sabah’s image as a cultural melting pot and home to over two dozen distinct ethnic groups.

According to one local observer, the emergence of inter-culture clashes was an inevitable by-product as the communal politics popular in peninsular Malaysia is gradually infiltrating the east Malaysian state.

“Everything starts from the top. When political leaders get away with making insensitive comments against a certain race people on the ground here will follow suit.

“And when racially insensitive remarks go unpunished, that’s when it becomes a free-for-all,” Universiti Malaysia Sabah social science senior lecturer Paul Porodong told Malay Mail Online.

Porodong explained that failure to pursue provocation against non-Muslims by groups such as Perkasa and Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma), as well as individuals like controversial Muslim convert writer Ridhuan Tee Abdullah served to embolden like-minded parties.

This was exacerbated when authorities were swift to act when the provocation was aimed at Muslims, Porodong said, citing the example of fugitive blogger Alvin Tan who was prosecuted for a Ramadan poster featuring a pork dish.

For political analyst Arnold Puyok, the seeming rise of communal friction here was a result of both past and present policies.

“Racial tensions is now on the rise partly because former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad’s principle for a successful multi racial society during his reign was to ban discourse on the matter altogether.

“Now it is much more in the open and the current prime minister cannot handle the differences,” said Puyok.

Another factor was the adoption of Islam as the state’s official religion in 1973, despite the first point of the 20-point Agreement stating that Sabah should remain secular. In comparison, neighbouring Sarawak has no state religion, as prescribed in its own 18-point Agreement.

According to Puyok, this glaring fact continues to grate Sabah’s non-Muslims today, who have also gone from a plurality to a clear minority with the spread of Islam.

Fuelling suspicions over the proselytisation of non-Muslims is the reports of the allegedly forced or fraudulent conversions of natives to Islam, often viewed as the ruling party’s attempt to expand support on the back of a shared religion.

But while some may view the attempts to perpetrate the influence of religion as sinister, the political science lecturer explained that parties that use religion as a platform were only doing what comes naturally.

“So of course, when right-wing religious groups take it as their duty to spread Islam, some see it as unscrupulous, as an attempt to exert the dominance of Islam. But to them, they are just doing what they think is right,” said Puyok.

Former state Speaker and newly-appointed federal Communications and Multimedia Minister Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said that some of the religious controversies here were exaggerated by the media, and were “not really as serious as it sound”.

He also said others were manufactured by “extremists” hungry for attention, adding that these would die away if they were ignored.

Puyok said that the role of the media, particularly social media, has shaped discussions on racial and religious tensions where in previous generations it may have never come to light.

“Not only do politicians get more vocal as they try to garner votes, now every one with a keyboard has a say, which can only inflame sentiments,” said Puyok.

What all three agreed on was that, despite the recent flare-ups over religion, religious politics will not gain a permanent foothold in Sabah.

If anything, Puyok said the state’s natives will fiercely resist attempts to divide and classify them by religion.

“Intolerance is still a new thing to Sabah, and people have shown that they are not accepting of it and will firmly reject any blatant show of it. This is not a mentality that will change anytime soon,” said Porodong.