KOTA KINABALU, Nov 1 — Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak denied today that the Barisan Nasional (BN) government forcibly converted people to Islam, amid mounting claims of Islamisation in Borneo.
The prime minister and BN chairman said that according to the principles of Islam, there is no compulsion and one cannot force the religion upon others.
“If someone wants to convert, that is fine. But I guarantee this is not our policy,” Najib said at the Parti Bersatu Rakyat Sabah (PBRS) conference here.
“There might be some individuals, but this is not our approach and the aim of the BN government,” he added.
Najib said there is a concept in Islam that focuses on an individual’s personal choice of faith.
“So if there are any incidents (of forced conversions), please complain to the chief minister. These are not government policies,” the prime minister said.
PBRS president Tan Sri Joseph Kurup said earlier that there was growing unease among Sabahans, particularly the Christian Bumiputera who felt that their right to freedom of religion was being threatened.
He cited the problem of non-Muslims, whose names have the “bin” or “binti” suffix, being wrongly classified as Muslims, as well as reports of conversions by way of coercion or deception, particularly among the rural folk.
He said such irresponsible acts violated one’s right to freedom of religion enshrined in the Federal Constitution and tarnished the name of the BN government among Sabahans, known for their harmonious multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-faith existence.
“It also becomes complicated with the issue of the ‘Allah’ that should only affect the people in Semenanjung, but because it has been politicised by the opposition, (it) has caused fear and anger among non-Muslims in Sabah,” said Kurup, who is also minister in the Prime Minister’s Department in charge of national unity.
The word “Allah”, an Arabic word which some Malaysian Muslims deem exclusive to Islam, has been an unresolved quandary stemming from regulatory prohibitions against non-Muslim use of the word in the peninsula, but not in Sabah and Sarawak.
The Home Ministry has seized on several occasions Christian materials bearing the word “Allah” that were meant for shipment to the Bornean states.
