Former inspector-general of police (IGP) Abdul Rahim Noor’s contention that Malaysia was not meant to be an Islamic state at conception has received the support of an interfaith council.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) said that there was no proposal for an Islamic state when Malaya gained independence, nor when Malaysia was formed.

The council said it agreed with Rahim that the people of Sabah and Sarawak would never have consented to Islam being the religion of the Federation in 1963.

In response to Umno’s concessions to PAS over the hudud bill, Rahim had claimed that those in Borneo had not wanted an official religion during the lead-up to the formation of Malaysia.

“The people in the Borneo State, all of them, regardless of race and religion did not want an official religion.”

"It was the main issue. This is clearly stated in the Cobbold Commission report," he was reported as saying to Sabah’s Daily Express last week.

The former IGP had also warned that the East Malaysian states may agitate to leave the Federation if the ruling coalition continued to submit to PAS’ demands just to stay in power.

In a statement signed by leaders of different faiths, MCCBCHST also insisted that it would be an “attack on the core fabric of the Federal Constitution” if any bore aspirations of Malaysia being an Islamic state under syariah law, maintaining that the “founding fathers” envisioned the Federation as secular.

As such, they called upon all Malaysians to abide by the principles the country was founded upon to ensure unity.