Avoid using race and religion for support
Published on: Monday, August 26, 2019
Kota Kinabalu: Former Chief Minister Tan Sri Harris Salleh said political leaders must not to use religion and race to win the people’s support as doing so will divide the communities, even spark anger and hatred.He said a number of Sabah leaders had lately raised the issue about how Islam was embraced by communities, especially in the rural areas.
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He argued that it was a non-issue because Islam has been on this land for centuries and the British even promoted it for economic reasons more than 130 years ago, alongside Christianity.
“A number of Sabah leaders raise the issue of race and religion again and again. These leaders give the impression that Islam in Sabah was introduced after Independence (1963), particularly in the interior.
“This is completely wrong. Historical records will prove that Islam had been in Sabah since the sixteenth century. During this period Sabah was ruled on the western side by the Sultan of Brunei and on the eastern side by the Sultan of Sulu. Both Sultans were Muslims.
“The majority of their subjects, if not all, were also Muslims. Based on these facts, Sabah has been an Islamic state ever since,” he said in a statement.
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He claimed that later in the 1880s, the British introduced Islam in parts of Sabah for purely economic reasons and even employed Muslim “mandors” (supervisors) from the Dutch rubber estates in Indonesia to spread Islam among estate workers.
“The British noticed that many natives working at the rubber estates spend most of their salaries on drinks. Worse, they would be absent from work for up to a week after payday.
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“A testimony to the success of the British strategy is that many of the native plantation workers in Tenom, Keningau, Beaufort, Tambunan, Ranau and few other places became Muslims. As a result, (the problem with) alcoholism dropped dramatically and productivity went up.
“Interestingly, one native leader made a remark that the pagan people drank heavily and that during the Harvest Festival would continuously drink ‘tapai’ for a month. The British solution to this was to introduce religion,” said Harris.
He said he had personally seen how the British rubber estate managers were pleased to learn that their solution worked.
“At around 1956, I was posted to Beaufort District Office and the District Officer, the late I.C. Peck, made me his Special Assistant to solve problems faced by natives.
“Then from 1958, I was posted as the Assistant District Officer of Sipitang at the age of 28 till 1960. On several occasions, I was privileged to be invited to the Beaufort Recreation Club with late Chung Chao Long, who was then appointed Member of British North Borneo Legislative Council.
“At Beaufort Recreation Club, the British rubber estate managers were happy that the natives were working very hard and with good daily attendance. They claimed that large number had stopped drinking,” he said.
Aside from his own historical evidence, Harris also pointed that that the propagation of Islam (among pagans) has been a Federal Government policy, aside from the introduction of Bahasa Melayu as the national language. Both were intended to unite the different races in the country.
“The fact is the Federal Government adopted two policies in order to unite all the different races and religions. First, introduce Bahasa Melayu as the national language because language is an effective medium to bind people. Such practice is common in many countries such as Indonesia, China and the US.
“But this policy is being challenged by the so called ‘natives’ of Sabah who are slowly introducing their own identities through language and manner of dressing. This will further segregate them from being part of the national identity. No country that does not have a common national identify has succeeded both politically and economically. These policies adopted by the Federal Government of Malaysia are also being practiced by many countries all over the world.
“Secondly, the Federal Government adopted a policy to convert pagans to Islam. This was launched by the Yang DiPertuan Agong in the 1970s. Every year there was a ‘Bulan Dakwah’ (preaching month) to invite people to Islam. Sabah Muslim leaders also took part in the programme. This resulted in tens of thousands of pagans accepting Islam,” he said.
Likewise, Harris said, the British also encouraged the spread of Christianity by financing the establishment of Christian schools and the building of churches.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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