Kota Kinabalu: Both Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) and Pakatan Harapan leaders hit out at former Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin for resorting to religion in an apparent desperate attempt to shore up support in today’s 15th General Election.
Both GRS which is the State’s ruling coalition and Pakatan are competing for crucial votes for the 25 parliament seats up for grabs in the election. Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Jeffrey Kitingan, who is also Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS) deputy Chairman, said the state condemned religious extremism in any form.
In the TikTok video, Muhyiddin is seen telling the people not to vote for Pakatan Harapan, alleging that it was being backed by people pushing for a Christianisation agenda. He claimed to have seen a group of Jews talking about Malaysia and praying for the country to fall into the hands of the Opposition.
“The GRS government respects freedom of religion in Sabah and will defend religious harmony in Sabah at all cost from any attempts, either directly or indirectly, to destroy it,” said Jeffrey.
He said the people must continue to reject attempts by any individual or group who abuse religion for their selfish gains.
“Sabahans are peace-loving from different ethnic groups and of different faiths who have lived in harmony and unity all this while. The Sabah government and people stand firmly united to preserve this at all costs,” he said.
Upko president-designate Datuk Ewon Benedick criticised Muhyiddin for making a baseless allegation.
“I strongly criticise his statement which is completely baseless. He deliberately incited racial sentiments by creating hatred against Christians in our country,” he said.
Ewon also lashed out at former Chief Minister Datuk Seri Shafie Apdal who made insulting remarks on the Chinese community during a speech in the Warisan’s election campaign in Tenom recently.
“As a young person, I am very upset with the attitudes, statements and speeches of leaders like them.” Shafie has since apologised.
Sabah DAP Secretary Chan Foong Hin called on Muhyiddin to retract his remarks as well as apologise to all Malaysians.
“If he does not, then Perikatan does not deserve to lead Malaysia as Malaysia does not need a bigot as our leader.
He said as Perikatan’s partner in Sabah, GRS should immediately cut all ties with PN.
“Such remark would not only incite hate and distrust amongst Malaysians of different religions against Christians for no good reason, it would also put all Christians all over Malaysia in danger of their personal safety.
“In Sabah, members from different religions live and work together harmoniously.
“We can see in coffee shops here that members of different religions, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists alike, all sit together and have a meal on the same table,” he said.
With freedom of religion as a cornerstone of the formation of Malaysia, there should not be any issue whatsoever with the practice of one’s religion, including Christianity and its propagation, especially in Sabah.
“Christians should not be made to practice their faith in fear of any repercussions or oppression,” he said.
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