Stop baseless statements on religious status

KOTA KINABALU, May 23 (The Borneo Post) -- Parti Bersatu Sabah (PBS) vice- president Datuk Herbert Timbon Lagadan yesterday urged opposition leaders to stop making unfounded statements regarding problem related to religious status faced by many Sabahans whose names have ‘bin’ or ‘binti’.

Datuk Herbert Timbon Lagadan
Sensationalising the issue to gain political mileage would not help solve the problem, stressed the Kadamaian assemblyman.

“It is my hope that the opposition leaders will stop making unfounded general statements related to the ‘bin’ or ‘binti’ issue,” he added.

According to Herbert, as responsible citizens leaders of the government of the day as well as opposition should carry out their duties and responsibilities with sincerity and harmony if the need arose.

He also urged citizens who wish to verify their religious status in the MyKad to do so at the nearest National Registration Department (NRD) office.

The Community Development and Consumer Affairs Assistant Minister who also has a ‘bin’ attached to his name said he went to the State NRD office on Friday to check the religious status stated on his MyKad and those of his family members.

“The data in all three chips (his, his wife and father) stated that we are Christians even though we have ‘bin’ and ‘binti’ attached to our names,” he said, adding that the officer in attendance informed him that word “Islam” would be written beneath the photo of those who have a ‘bin’ or ‘binti’ if they were thought to be a Muslim.

Last week Herbert pointed out that most Sabahans who have a ‘bin’ or ‘binti’ attached to their names did not bother to check the details on their MyKad.

“No one would know for sure how many Sabahans have their religious status in MyKad wrongly stated as a Muslim just because they have a ‘bin’ or ‘binti’ attached to their names. My wife and I have a ‘binti’ and a ‘bin’ to our names but we have not bothered to check our religious status.

I believe most of the other people too have not bothered to do the same.

“Most probably the mistakes made by NRD related to religious status of a person who has a ‘bin’ or a ‘binti’ to their names was due to an ignorance of the actual scenario in Sabah,” he said.

It was because of this scenario that a Sabahan had been appointed to lead the state NRD as a Peninsular Malaysian would not understand the real situation in Sabah and may not be aware that in Sabah, a person by the name of Karim or Abidin with a ‘bin’ in his name can be truly a Christian, Herbert added.