May 1, 2025
The news from Nabawan, Sabah, has understandably filled many with profound dismay and righteous anger. Disturbing reports of Sabahans, who are proud members of the indigenous Murut community and devout Christians, are being deceitfully registered as Muslims without their knowledge or explicit consent.
This forced and deceptive conversion is not merely a misguided act; it is a grave betrayal, a blatant assault on the fundamental principles of personal dignity, the universally recognized right to religious freedom, and the very core of individual belief. This isn’t an isolated incident; it sadly echoes a troubling pattern of religious manipulation and a perceived agenda of systemic Islamization that has cast a long shadow over Sabah, particularly in the painful aftermath of the deeply contentious “Project IC” from 1970 to 1990.
A key tactic in this systemic marginalization is the insidious misuse of administrative power. Shockingly, Christians and non-Muslim Sabahans who happen to bear names with affiliated “bin” or “binti” suffixes are routinely and unjustly misclassified as Muslims on their national identity cards (MyKad). This bureaucratic sleight-of-hand, chillingly dubbed “MyKad Islamization,” effectively strips them of their fundamental religious identity overnight. It’s a practice that has disproportionately affected the indigenous communities, whose traditional cultural naming conventions are now being weaponized against them in this systematic erosion of their religious freedom.
When vulnerable Christians and non-Muslims are lured with financial incentives, false promises of employment, or unknowingly ensnared through deceptive paperwork, the outcome is not a genuine spiritual conversion; it is exploitation in its most reprehensible form. This systematic undermining of religious identity, compounded by the arbitrary “MyKad Islamization,” is a grave insult, not only to the immediate victims but also to the very foundation of the Malaysian Constitution and the Malaysia Agreement 1963, both of which guarantee every citizen the inviolable freedom to choose and practice their faith without coercion or fear of subtle yet pervasive Islamization tactics.
Those responsible for this ongoing outrage have committed a profound betrayal that extends far beyond the immediate victims. They have betrayed the very integrity and trust of the people of Sabah. This isn’t merely an administrative oversight; it points to a deliberate and deeply troubling pattern of religious persecution against the Christian community in Sabah, a pattern that many believe is intrinsically linked to a broader strategy of systemic Islamization, possibly stemming from the divisive strategies employed during Project IC, aimed at altering the religious and demographic landscape of Sabah.
Indeed, Sabah’s indigenous Christians now stand at an existential crossroads. The state’s Muslim population has surged dramatically from 37.9% in 1960 to a staggering 67.4% in 2010 — a demographic shift that activists and concerned citizens attribute to state-sponsored migration and orchestrated conversion schemes, alongside the insidious “MyKad Islamization.”
Stay Awake. Keep Watch.
SOURCE: International Christian Concern