ORANG Asli Development Department (Jakoa) director-general Juli Edo has told the Kelantan Islamic Religious and Malay Customs Council (MAIK) to stop tricking the state’s Orang Asli into converting to Islam, reported The Star today.

Edo, in responding to Kelantan making the conversion a state agenda, said the state should stop taking advantage of the Orang Asli communities and should respect the constitution with regards to the people’s right to choose their religion.

He said while Islam is the official religion of the federation, non-Muslims are still free to practise their respective religions.

“Let that choice be up to the individual,” Edo told a press conference after the Persatuan Pembangunan Orang Asli Malaysia (Malaysia Orang Asli Development Association) annual general meeting yesterday.

He was asked on a news report quoting MAIK deputy chairman Nik Mohd Azlan Abd Hadi as saying that there is a plan to convert all the Orang Asli in the state to Islam within the next 30 years.

Nik Mohd said to date, 5,000 of the 16,000 Orang Asli in the state had converted to Islam.

Edo said that instead of attempting to convert more, MAIK should look into educating and guiding those Orang Asli who have converted.

Deputy Rural and Regional Development Minister R. Sivarasa criticised Nik Mohd at the press conference, saying the comments were inappropriate.

“It gives the picture that converting to Islam is a condition in order for development (to the communities in the state) to happen and this is not right.

“Any development, be it from federal, state or the private sector, should not have such conditions,” Sivarasa was quoted by The Star as saying. – June 23, 2019.