Sabah cannot enforce anti-apostasy laws

By Harcharan Singh

The state government or JHEAINS should come out to clarify the matter before they are taken to court for arbitrary abuse of power.

The question is why the sudden interest in the case when it has always been a non-issue in Sabah.Is JHEAINS taking orders from KL when they should have not and should have stayed independent.

It is good that the writer divulged the existence of such laws that goes against the grains of what JHEAINS tried to impose unbeknown to many Sabahans.

Amde added that it was worrying to note that JHEAINS was going out of its way to smother the state’s well-known religious tolerance by imposing its own values.

“I think the department is going a bit overboard. Is it now an agent receiving instructions from KL religious people?

“Is this a grand design to control the mindset of people living in Sabah and yet talk about religious tolerance and 1Malaysia?” he asked.

Amde was commenting on a report “Sabah to crack down on apostates” in the local media.

JHEAINS director Amri Suratman said last month that the anti-apostasy laws would be enforced in Sabah once its Faith Rehabilitation Centre in Kinarut is ready by next year.

Amde described the move as “one more of those steps that aim to completely erode the Malaysia Agreement of 1963″.

http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/2011/01/24/sabah-cannot-enforce-anti-apostasy-laws/