Opposition Man Challenges Notion Of No Official Religion In Sarawak

---

 
Parti Bumi Kenyalang president Voon Lee Shan contended that Islam should be the state’s official religion, under the Federal Constitution.
PETALING JAYA: A Sarawak opposition party leader has challenged the notion expressed by a state deputy minister that Sarawak has no official religion.
Parti Bumi Kenyalang president Voon Lee Shan said the Sarawak state constitution does not specifically state whether there is or not an official religion in Sarawak.
“It is difficult to say there is no official religion for Sarawak, when the Federal Constitution expressly says Islam is the official religion of Malaysia,” he said, according to the Borneo Post.
As the Federal Constitution is the supreme law in Malaysia, that meant that “Islam is the official religion in Sarawak under the constitution”.
Voon’s remarks came after Sarawak United Peoples’ Party secretary-general Sebastian Ting had contended that Sarawak is a secular state and has no official religion.
He said controversial religious guidelines about Muslim participation at non-Muslim events, proposed by a federal minister, were “unnecessary and over-bearing for a secular state like Sarawak”.
However, Voon said if Islam is to be excluded from being the official religion in Sarawak, the state constitution must expressly mention that there is no official religion for Sarawak.
He urged the state government and leaders of Gabungan Parti Sarawak to propose an amendment to the Federal Constitution so people will not be confused about the position of Islam in Sarawak.
Voon said it is insufficient for the GPS government to express its opposition to the proposed guidelines mainly through media statements.
Earlier today, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said the proposed guidelines about Muslim participation at non-Muslim events were unnecessary and would only cause anxiety. He said he would present the Cabinet’s decision on the matter to Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak, who chairs the national council of Islamic religious affairs. - FMT

---