Voon Lee Shan

KUCHING (Dec 23): The law concerning the official religion in Sarawak and Sabah, according to Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution, has to be amended to plug all ambiguities in this provision, said Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) president Voon Lee Shan.

He opined that Sarawak should never have an official religion in order to ensure peace and calm among citizens of the state while it must be stated clearly that Sarawak and Sabah are allowed to practise all religions in peace and in harmony.

“Although Article 3(1) of the Federal Constitution states that Islam is the official religion of the federation and other religions are to be practised in peace and harmony in Malaysia, this had in the past been twisted or been misread by certain groups of people and politicians to such an extent that the Sarawak government, at one time in its website, said Islam was also the official religion for Sarawak.

“This was also despite that it had been removed after complaints (were) made,” he added in a statement issued yesterday.

Following that, he stressed that it must be stated clearly that there is no official religion in the two East Malaysian states of Sarawak and Sabah.

Voon also suggested that citizens may wish to be informed that the Sarawak Constitution is clear that Sarawak has no official religion.

He urged that no federal and state funds should be used to spread one particular religion alone in Malaysia, particularly in Sarawak and Sabah, where Christians and Buddhists are the majority.

On his Christmas wish, he said Christmas is a season for bonding among 63 per cent of Sarawakians who are Christians and also among other races in Sarawak.

He also said Christmas brings the spirit of hope, peace and a better world.

He hopes that the unity government under Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim can bring better peace and harmony.

“I hope he would be able to reduce tensions caused by current waves of politics of racialism and fanaticism in this country as such brand of politics can disrupt harmony in our society.

“Christmas is also treated as a cultural holiday and being treated as a cultural holiday, Christmas helps to unite the various races of peoples of Sarawak and the harmony among races that had been built since the Rajah’s time.

“This harmony among races in Sarawak should not be disrupted,” he said.

He recalled that before the idea of Greater Malaya or Malaysia was formed in 1963, it was insisted by the people of Sarawak that there should not be any official religion for Sarawak.

There was also the fear of being forced to convert from own religion to another religion against one’s free will, which is something not acceptable to most Sarawakians, he added.