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Datuk Dr. Jeffrey Kitingan is the Chairman of STAR Sabah and State Assemblymen for N33, Bingkor, Sabah.
He also contested in P180, Keningau and garnering 11900 strong votes
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As the debate over the Allah decision rages, politicians from East Malaysia argued that the controversial Court of Appeal ruling is a breach of the Malaysia agreement.
Constitutional lawyers also weighed in on the issue, saying it was a clear case of a breach of the 1963 Malaysia agreement if East Malaysian Christians are barred from using the word Allah in any part of the federation.
Sabah State Reform Party (Star) chairman Datuk Dr Jeffrey Kitingan said the Court of Appeal ruling went against the first point of the agreement which touched on freedom of religion.
Point 1 of the 20-point condition that Sabah drew up and the 18-point condition Sarawak drew up, which Malaya had to agree to before forming Malaysia, stated that: “While there was no objection to Islam being the national religion of Malaysia, there should be no state religion in Borneo (Sarawak & Sabah), and the provisions relating to Islam in the present Constitution of Malaya should not apply to Borneo.”
Kitingan, a vocal proponent of restoring the full autonomy and rights of Sabah and Sarawak under the 20 and 18-point agreements, also pointed out that the country's first prime minister, Tunku Abdul Rahman, had given a clear assurance on religious freedom in Parliament on October 16, 1961.
He then quoted Tunku: “One reaction in the Borneo territories was that the Malaysia concept was an attempt to colonise the Borneo territories ... the answer to this was, as I said before, it is legally impossible for the federation to colonise because we desire that they should join us in the federation in equal partnership, enjoying the same status between one another, so there is no fear that Malaysia will mean that there will be an imposition of Islam on Borneo ... so everybody is free to practise whatever religion.”
Kitingan said Sabah natives marked the assurance of religious freedom in the Malaysia agreement by literally carving it in stone, the Batu Sumpah or Oath Stone.
“It essentially states that as long as this religious freedom is respected, we shall be loyal to Malaysia,” added Kitingan, who in 2010 founded the United Borneo Front (UBF), a non-governmental organisation aimed at safeguarding the rights of Sabah and Sarawak in the 20-point and 18-point agreements.
Echoing Kitingan's view that the Court of Appeal ruling had breached the agreement was Sarawak PKR chairman Baru Bian.
“This decision is a betrayal of the undertaking given to our forefathers when they agreed to join in the formation of Malaysia,” Baru said.
“The rights of Sarawakians and Sabahans were also protected in the Government Paper 'Malaysia and Sarawak' dated January 4, 1962.”
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