Islam and Politics in Malaysia: The Realisation of Islam as a State Religion in Sabah (Islam dan Politik di Malaysia: Realisasi Islam sebagai Agama Negeri di Sabah)

This paper analyses the process of independence in Sabah and the consequent Islamisation of its population, which caused the amendment of the State Constitution in 1973. The first part of the paper states that the unification of Sabah with Malaya into the Federation of Malaysia guaranteed its independence from the British colonial rule as well as saved it from the communist threat. The next part of the paper suggests that the Islamisation activities were highly associated with the political needs of the government where the Muslim political leaders strived for increasing the number of their supporters in order to maintain their seats as the ruling government in Sabah. Thus, the paper finds the strong relationship between Islam and politics in modern nation-states, and concludes that the rapid growth of the number of Muslims in Sabah later created the quality problem as their religious education was not seen as the priority by the ruling government. Keywords: Malaysia, Constitution, Islam in Sabah, Independence of Malaya, Islam and Politics, Federation of Malaysia. Abstrak Makalah ini menganalisis sejarah kemerdekaan di Sabah dan proses Islamisasi penduduknya yang menyebabkan pindaan Perlembagaan Negeri pada tahun 1973. Bahagian pertama makalah ini menyatakan bahawa penyatuan Sabah dengan Tanah Melayu ke Persekutuan Malaysia menjaminkan kebebasannya dari penjajahan British serta menyelamatkannya dari ancaman komunis. Bahagian seterusnya menunjukkan bahawa aktiviti pengislaman sangat dikaitkan dengan keperluan politik kerajaan di mana pemimpin politik yang Muslim berusaha meningkatkan jumlah penyokong mereka untuk mengekalkan kerusi mereka sebagai pemerintah di Sabah. Oleh itu, makalah ini mendapati hubungan kuat antara Islam dan politik di negara-negara moden, dan menyimpulkan bahawa pertumbuhan pesat bilangan umat Islam di Sabah kemudiannya menimbulkan masalah kualiti kerana pendidikan agama mereka tidak dilihat sebagai keutamaan oleh kerajaan pemerintah.   Kata Kunci: Malaysia, Perlembagaan, Islam di Sabah, Kemerdekaan Malaya, Islam dan Politik, Persekutuan Malaysia.