Based on the understanding among four signatories between Sarawak, Sabah, Singapore and Malaya, during the formation of Malaysia in 1963, he believed that Malaysia is a secular country with Islam as the official religion with adherents of other religions free to practise their beliefs without any hindrances.
He said the four signatories agreed to sign the Malaysia Agreement based on the basis that Malaysia is understood as a secular state.
“Over the years, interpretations have changed, which have resulted in misunderstandings. Perhaps the ‘men of law’ should clarify the situation once and for all,” Masing said when contacted yesterday.
He was commenting on the remarks made by Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Seri Jamil Khir Baharom in parliament that Malaysia was not a secular state, claiming the country was historically set up based on an Islamic Malay Sultanate government.
Published in The Borneo Post on Thursday, Masing was reported as saying that Malaysia must be true to its calling during its formation that it is indeed a secular country with Islam as its official religion.
Meanwhile, State Reform Party (Star) Sabah chief Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said that Malaysia had always been a secular state as per the Reid commission on the formation of Malaysia.
He said the country’s founding father, the late Tunku Abdul Rahman, had kept the assurance even though it has been accepted that Islam is the official religion of the federation.
“There is freedom of religion in the federation. In fact, Sarawak and Sabah agreed to be part of the Malaysia project on condition that there shall be no official religion in the Borneo states and this is clearly stated in Article 1 of the 18/20 points conditions in the Malaysia Agreement,” he said when contacted Wednesday.
He added that if Malaysia was to become an Islamic state and no longer a secular state, then the basis for the two states as part of the federation would cease to exist.
“This may also be the reason that religion is a state matter. So what and why is the federal minister making such a remark? Malaysia must remain a secular state to be stable and progressive,” added the Bingkor assemblyman.
He said any move to shift Malaysia from being a secular federation automatically questions the entire basis of the country’s formation as secularism was one of the pre-conditions offered by the country’s first Prime Minister when Sabah and Sarawak joined the federation in 1963.
Jeffrey also said that one of the conditions was that there was no official religion for Sabah.
BP
No comments:
Post a Comment