Sabah Islamic agency denies coerced conversion claim
Jan 25: Sabah’s native Christians became Muslims voluntarily and not through trickery, bribery or force, the state’s Islamic authority reportedly said today, breaking its silence in face of a brewing interfaith storm there.
Citing an unnamed source from the Sabah State Islamic Affairs Department (Jheains), The Malaysian Insider news portal reported the religious agency adding that a police report had been filed to counter a previous complaint that some indigenous Christian villagers had been unwittingly converted to Islam for RM100 each on New Year’s Day.
“If they were tricked, all would have been converted,” the anonymous source was quoted saying.
According to the source as cited in the news report, only 36 out of a hundred-strong group from three villages deep in Sabah’s northern interior converted after attending a one-hour briefing and lecture session on Islam at a mosque in the Pitas district.
The source was also reported to have refuted claims that the Christians were paid to convert, saying that the RM100 and RM50 in cash given out to each of the adults and children that day were for their travel allowances and not only those who embraced Islam.
“The money was to compensate them for coming all the way from the remote areas for the function. The money was given to all 100 over villagers who attended the function,” the unnamed source was quoted saying.
The source also reportedly said the state Islamic authority is still processing the registration of the 36 villagers who embraced Islam that day, and that it will not interfere with police investigations on the coerced conversion complaint.
The Malay Mail Online has attempted to contact Jheains for clarification since the news was first reported by a Sabah newspaper, The Daily Express, on January 8, but have yet to receive a reply.
On January 10, Kota Marudu police chief Deputy Superintendent Mohd Isa Yusof confirmed with The Malay Mail Online that police have received the report filed by a group of Sabah villagers, who claimed they were “tricked” into converting to Islam, but added that the matter has been referred to Jheains for further action.
Relations between Malaysia’s majority Muslim and minority Christian communities have been strained of late, as the country continues to grapple with whether non-Muslims have the right to use the word “Allah”.
Earlier this month, the Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) officers accompanied by policemen raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) office in Petaling Jaya and confiscated 300 copies of the bible in the Malay and Iban languages, which contained the word “Allah”.
source: The Malay Mail Online
