SABAH’S opposition leaders today launched a fresh attack against Pandikar Amin Mulia who had dared them to remove Islam as the official religion of the state following his weekend Malaysia Agreement talk.

Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) and Parti Solidariti Tanah Airku (Sabah Star) accused the Dewan Rakyat speaker of playing the religion card after he said the federal government had honoured Sabah’s rights in the 1963 Malaysia Agreement (MA63).

Warisan deputy president Darell Leiking said only Barisan Nasional leaders used such political tactics.

“Pandikar seems bereft of ideas and issues if he were to harp on race and religion, where in Sabah, people of all races and religions live together harmoniously.

“It would be very malicious of Pandikar to imply that Warisan wants to use ‘racial and religious’ issues when it is the other way around – it is leaders like Pandikar who shamelessly use them to boost their political parties,” he said.

Pandikar yesterday dared opposition parties to amend the Sabah Constitution to remove Islam as the official religion of the state if they form the next Sabah government.

This came after Pandikar was attacked for accusing Sabah’s opposition leaders of using the MA63 to gain political mileage by saying Putrajaya had failed to honour the agreement.

Under one of the points agreed when forming Malaysia in 1963 that there should be no official religion in Sabah.

Leiking made it clear that Warisan will not amend the constitution unless the majority in Sabah want it.

“A straight answer to Pandikar is that Article 5A of the Sabah State Constitution is not an issue at all; we are talking about the Malaysia Agreement 1963 as well as the erosion of Sabah’s rights and what has been agreed to by those who framed the MA63,” he said.

Leiking noted that more be revealed by going through the State assembly hansard at the time when the amendments were made.

He, however, said the work to revive the Sabah economy and resolve the illegal immigrant woes deserves more attention than the issue of religion.

Towards this end, Leiking challenged Pandikar to questioned PBS on the matter, stating it was PBS who had the power in 1985 to amend the law but did not.

Sabah Star president Jeffrey Kitingan said the amendment of Article 5A done by United Sabah National Organisation (Usno) is invalid as it was inconsistent with MA63 and the constitutional documents on the formation of the Federation of Malaysia.

“Whether or not Islam remains as the official religion in Malaysia, Sabah will always enjoy freedom of religion as envisaged by the founding fathers.

“And they are right in insisting on the freedom of religion as pre-condition for Sabah’s agreement to form Malaysia,” he said.

Jeffrey who is also Bingkor assemblyman, said Pandikar’s challenge is due to Umno’s penchant for playing up race and religious issues.

He said Pandikar is now using what he had learnt from Umno to divide Sabahans.

“The challenge by Pandikar to the opposition is nothing more than a typical Umno diversion tactic to avoid facing the real issues.”

According to Jeffrey, Sabahans and Sarawakians are very clear when it comes to the restoration of the rights, privileges and autonomy of the Borneo states.  

“It is very irresponsible for a senior Sabah leader and the Dewan Rakyat speaker to play up racial and religious rhetorics for the sake of political advancement and political survival,” he said. – November 15, 2017.