E M'sia should keep religion out of politics, says Salleh
Published on: Saturday, December 20, 2014
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KOTA KINABALU: East Malaysia should keep religion out of politics or risk ending up in the same quandary as Peninsular Malaysia, Datuk Seri Salleh Said Keruak said.Alluding to the hudud and "Allah" controversies and the confiscation of Christian literature, the former Sabah Chief Minister said these issues appeared to be never-ending.Just as one incident is solved, Salleh noted in a blog post that another one cropped up.
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The Sabah Speaker said it was beginning to look like such problems were going to be part of the Malaysian "culture" "for a long time to come"."Sarawak recently issued a statement saying that it will not allow this conflict to spread to Sarawak, as has Sabah.
"And this is good because Sarawak and Sabah have always been moderate in matters of religion."Salleh said Sarawak and Sabah should not be dragged into the conflicts facing West Malaysia.
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The East Malaysian states, he said, have to maintain their stand regarding hudud and the usage of "Allah" by non-Muslims and Christian publications in the national language.The two states, Salleh added, had always been the model for religious tolerance and this must not be allowed to change.
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"Let us keep religion out of politics to ensure that we do not slide down the slippery slope that some states in West Malaysia appear to be heading for."He had also said that many tragedies across the world in the past were sparked off when politics and religion collided, but most Malaysians were not too concerned because it was taking place far away.Only when it exploded in Malaysia's backyard, Salleh said, would it be of concern, while most feel it can never happen in Malaysia.
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"But that is what everyone initially felt in the many countries that these tragedies are occurring."By the time reality sets in, that religious extremism and terrorism would have arrived on our doorstep, and it is usually too late to do anything about it."