More Christians converted in Sabah than reported, say pastors

The conversion of rural Christians to Islam in Sabah is more widespread than initially reported, according to a meeting of pastors in Kota Kinabalu.

The emergency meeting was called on Wednesday after The Malaysian Insider reported that Christians in the remote district of Pitas had been tricked into converting after being offered a mere RM100.

The news report featured a group of 64 people, including children, from three villages in Pitas – Kampung Layung Maliau, Dowokon and Sosop – who had allegedly been converted to Islam for the paltry sum on New Year's Day.

“Ya, it’s happening, according to our people,” Protestant Church in Sabah (PCS) president Rev Jensey Mojuin told The Malaysian Insider.

Mojuin had earlier said the church was concerned over “unofficial” reports of what was happening in the parishes of Kudat, Kota Marudu, Kanibongan, Paitan and Pitas. There were also unconfirmed reports of forced, coerced or induced conversion elsewhere in northern and eastern Sabah.

Christians in the state, including political parties from both sides of the political divide, have since rallied to assist these “converted” natives.

Mojuin said the meeting agreed that the church should conduct an awareness campaign among its baptised members by conducting seminars or workshops.

“We are still drawing up the agenda of the seminars. We will have another meeting to finalise it and set a date when we would conduct them,” he added.

Fearful of saying too much due to the sensitivity of the issue, Mojuin, however, said the Muslim NGOs had “slowed down” their activities after the alleged covert conversion in Pitas made headlines.

He said he believed other churches with large indigenous members in rural areas were also affected by the conversion and called on the Sabah Council of Churches (SCC) to hold a meeting to discuss the issue.

Tomorrow, an indigenous Christian NGO Perpaduan Anak Negeri Sabah (PAN) will again sound their war cry for religious freedom by holding a “mamangkis” in the interior tourist town of Ranau, about 110km from Kota Kinabalu.

The “mamangkis” is an old Kadazan Dusun Murut war cry used by their ancestors to rally warrior troops for battle. Now it has been adopted as a Christian clarion call for revival.

At the first mamangkis in Penampang at the end of last year, PAN said the attempt to ban non-Muslims from using the word “Allah” had betrayed the Malaysia Agreement.

“Fifty years is a long time but the terms on which we agree to become part of a new and bigger nation state are still fresh in our memory.

“We have been betrayed. There can be no treachery greater than being betrayed by someone within the family,” PAN said.

Some of those converted in Kg Layung Maliau had told The Malaysian Insider earlier this week that a neighbour – who was told by an acquaintance with links to a Kuala Lumpur-based Muslim NGO – had on New Year's Eve informed them “some people from Kuala Lumpur” were offering them “financial assistance” of RM800.

On New Year's Day, they went to Pitas to collect the money, but instead of receiving the money at the Pitas town hall as they were told to go to a mosque instead.

At the mosque, they claimed they were made to sign some forms they had no idea what as they could not read or write and then go through procedure by reciting “foreign words”.

Some of them who kept the forms they signed by attesting their thumbprint, later showed them to their village church elders, who told them the form was a consent form that they were converting on their free will. – January 24, 2014.