WILFRED Madius Tangau was only making comparisons to the past when touching on the topic of alleged forced mass Islamisation, and never intended to offend anyone, said Sabah Chief Minister Shafie Apdal.

Coming to the defence of his deputy today, Shafie said it was easy to misinterpret Tangau’s statement, and stressed that it was more important for Sabahans to move forward.

”(Tangau’s statement) is okay to me. As much as we do not want others to belittle our religion, we should not look down on other religions either.

“But, what’s important is that Sabahans need to move forward,” Shafie said at the opening of the Tanjung Aru library in Kota Kinabalu today. 

Present were Sabah Education and Innovation Minister Dr Yusof Yaakob, Assistant Minister Jenifer Lasimbang and library director Wong Vui Yin.

On Monday, Tangau, who is also Tuaran MP, posted about the alleged forced mass Islamisation of Tambunan folks 38 years ago by a past state leader in making comparisons to Shafie’s leadership.

He had said many Sabahans had been forced to convert to Islam by the unnamed leader.

This caused an uproar among several Muslim groups, who then lodged police reports against him.

Shafie said religous and racial spats would not benefit anyone, and were a waste of time.

He added this was why the state government routinely organised and promoted cultural events and festivities, and also gives generously to churches and mosques.

“If we continue to get involved in such spats, Sabah will never achieve anything.” – July 25, 2019.