Sabah’s religious safeguards must be restored, says Warisan man

KOTA KINABALU (Feb 11): Parti Warisan (Warisan) wants the Sabah government to reinstate religious freedom by rectifying the 1973 constitutional amendment to protect indigenous Sabahans.

Warisan Director of Strategic Communication Christopher Masudal said implementing the Malaysia Agreement 1963 (MA63) remains Warisan’s primary focus.

“Recent political and policy developments in Malaya necessitate an urgent discussion within Sabah to reinstate complete freedom of religion in the state. Throughout 2025, we witnessed a relentless surge in racial and religious rhetoric from Malaya-based parties such as Umno, Bersatu, and PAS,” he said.

He added that the current Madani Government has also followed this trend. The proposed Mufti (Federal Territories) Bill 2024, which may be retabled this year, has raised concerns because critics argue it would allow non-elected officials to issue fatwas with the force of law.

“Proponents of the bill argue that it will not affect Sabah, but history has shown that Federal Territory laws can eventually ‘creep’ into Sabah. We have seen this before with the Administration of Islamic Law Enactment 1991 (passed by the Sabah State Assembly on December 23, 1991) which significantly expanded Syariah jurisdiction in the state,” he said in a statement.

Masudal added that critics’ concerns are justified, as the bill, once passed, may exacerbate the “administrative Islamisation” already faced by non-Muslim Kadazan Dusun and Muruts (KDM).

He warned that KDMs with Muslim-sounding names or the ‘Bin/Binti’ suffix could face legal limbo, potentially incurring high costs from court proceedings.

“Civil courts may now feel even more compelled to defer to rigid fatwas, making the recent landmark judgment by Datuk Celestina Stuel Galid — which allowed Abdul Manap Bakusai @ Abu Bakar and three others to rectify their MyKads to reflect their Christian faith — perhaps the last of its kind.

“We now must ask : where did we lose our way? Perhaps we should go back to September 25, 1973 when the Sabah State Constitution was amended (Enactment No. 8 of 1973) to designate Islam as the state religion.

“This matter has been discussed by Mohd Nazim Ganti Shaari – Law Department UiTM Malacca, I believe was a direct departure from the assurances given by the British prior to the formation of Malaysia.

“In the British Parliament, Nigel Fisher, the then Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, stated in his debate that, although Islam will be the religion of the Federation, there will be no State Religion in the Borneo States,” he said.

Masudal said this guarantee was a fundamental condition for Sabah and Sarawak to agree to form the Federation; otherwise, it would not have been raised in the British Parliament.

“Therefore, we must now also question why our own State Assembly would enact a law that contravenes the very spirit and intent of MA63.

“So while we demand the federal government to respect and implement MA63, we must also look in the mirror.

“Perhaps it is the time to consider the ‘Doctrine of Basic Structure’ as stated by Mohd Nazim to nullify constitutional amendments enacted by a temporal legislative that destroy a constitution’s permanent features — in this case, Sabah’s status as a state with no official religion.

Masudal urged Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Sabah and Sarawak) Mustapha Sakmud to include the 1973 amendment in the agenda and allow non-Muslim religious groups to contribute.

“It is my personal opinion, which I believe shared by many in Warisan, that Sabah must remain secular and pluralistic.

“Our founding forefathers did not agree to form Malaysia for the purpose of building a specific race or religion but to build an economically prosperous nation for all, especially our own state.

“If we want others to truly honor MA63, we must start by restoring the religious safeguards that we ourselves transgressed,” he said.