KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 20 — Sabah PAS has cautioned the public today against questioning the status of Islam as the official religion of the state, stating the issue is a “sensitive” one.
The chapter of the Islamist party said the religion’s status is enshrined in Article 5(A) of the state constitution.
“Sabah PAS feels that the issue of religion is final. Let there be no party who bring back such matter,” the chapter’s commissioner Mohd Aminuddin Aling said in a statement.
“If the issue of official religion continues to be a political capital, Sabah PAS is fully confident that it will cause conflicts and dispute.”
Sabah did not have an official religion in line with what was agreed to in the Malaysian Agreement 1963 (MA63).
It was only in 1976 when the now defunct United Sabah National Organisation’s government had changed the situation by amending the Sabah State Constitution by including a new article — Article 5A — which provided that Islam was the official religion of the state.
Last week, Dewan Rakyat speaker Tan Sri Pandikar Amin Mulia challenged those claiming to champion the rights of Sabah to prove their sincerity, among others by amending the Article 5A.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak said the federal government has no intention and right to take anything that rightfully belongs to Sabah and its people as provided for in the MA63.
