KUALA LUMPUR, July 31 — Sabah Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Wilfred Madius Tangau said he has given his statement to the police for their investigation against him over a Facebook post alleging forced conversions in the state.

“I have given my full cooperation and have also forwarded the relevant documents in supporting and explaining my posting. The documents that I am referring to is a memorandum that has been given to me many years ago when I was a student leader,” Tangau said in a statement.

“I have explained to the police of what had transpired at that time and the action that I had taken after receiving the memorandum. However, as this is still a police investigation I therefore could not share the contents of the memorandum.”

On July 21, Tangau posted on Facebook to claim a Sabah government leader had gone to Tambunan 38 years ago and held a mass Islamisation ceremony, forcing many locals to convert by threatening them and promising them jobs and land titles.

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His post incited dissatisfaction among some groups, and representatives from Sabah Umno youth, PAS Youth, and non-governmental-organisations had lodged police reports against the Tuaran MP for inciting religious and racial sentiments.

Tangau was comparing the unnamed leader to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal, who had just visited the district and delivered a RM1 million allocation to upgrade churches in the area.

Today, he said his intentions were not to incite racial hate but to remind the public of the alleged incident.

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“It is therefore my hope that we could now move on from this episode,” said Tangau.

Last week, Kota Kinabalu police chief Habibi Majinji said Tangau would be called in for questioning after 20 police reports were made.