KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Amid a raging religious row in Selangor, a group of Sabah villagers have alleged they were deceived into embracing Islam for RM100.

In a report on its website, The Daily Express reported a group of 27 people from a remote village in the north Borneo state had filed a police complaint last Wednesday, claiming to have been converted from Christianity to Islam on New Year’s Day by a Muslim welfare group without being fully aware of the conversion rites, after being promised aid.

“When we arrived at the venue, our MyKads were collected and later returned and we were told to sign a form which we were not able to understand as most of us are illiterate,” Makadan Masabu was quoted as saying by the local Sabah newspaper.

The 54-year-old was reported to be the spokesman for the villagers who hail from Kampung Maliau in the Pitas district.

He related that he was informed by an acquaintance last month that a group from Kuala Lumpur would be visiting the district to hand out “welfare” aid.

According to the news report, Makadan said he provided his acquaintance with a list of villagers who were seeking welfare assistance; the unnamed acquaintance later told him they could expect RM800 in cash aid at a ceremony on New Year’s Day.

On January 1, some 43 villagers travelled by van to Pitas, Makadan recounted, and separated into smaller groups and recite words they claimed not to understand.

“After that an unknown man told us we had converted. We were shocked and panicked,” Makadan told the newspaper.

He added that the villagers were each given an envelop that contained RM100 in cash.

When contacted last night, Kota Marudu police chief Deputy Superintendent Mohd Isa Yusof — whose jurisdiction covers Pitas — confirmed to The Malay Mail Online that a report was filed.

Lawyer Francis Pereira told The Malay Mail Online it is not an offence in Malaysia for a Muslim to convert a person of a different faith to Islam.

But he added that the authorities can investigate the case for criminal elements if the claims of bribery, as the villagers alleged, were to be proven.

“Those are Penal Code offences, (and) also the Corruption Act,” Pereira said last night when contacted, referring to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission Act 2009.

“Those are criminal in nature,” he added, pointing to the allegations raised by the villagers.

Relations between Malaysia’s majority Muslim and minority Christian communities have been strained of late, as the country continues to grapple with who holds the right to use the word “Allah”.

Sabah and Sarawak have largely escaped the religious fires that have broken out in Peninsular Malaysia.

The latest flashpoint happened last week, when Selangor Islamic Department (Jais) officers accompanied by policemen raided the Bible Society of Malaysia (BSM) office in Petaling Jaya and confiscated 300 copies of the bible in the Malay and Iban languages, which contained the word “Allah”.

Faced with flak, Jais defended its operation, saying it was empowered by the Selangor Non-Islamic Religions (Control of Propagation Among Muslims) Enactment 1988 that prohibits non-Muslims in Selangor from using 35 Arabic words and phrases, including the word for God, “Allah”.

The incident sparked outrage among Malaysians, with lawyers arguing that the raid — and the very Enactment used to validate it — were unconstitutional, illegal and an act of harassment against Christians in the country.

Jais’ recent action reignited long simmering tension in the country that followed the Kuala Lumpur High Court’s decision four years ago in favour of allowing Catholic weekly the Herald to continue to use the word “Allah” despite an earlier prohibition by the government.

The ongoing legal dispute between the government and the Catholic Church is still pending before the Federal Court, which is set to hear arguments from both sides on February 24 before it decides on whether it will hear an appeal by the Catholic Church.

Christians make up about 10 per cent of the Malaysian population, or 2.6 million. Almost two-thirds of them are Bumiputera and are largely based in Sabah and Sarawak, where they routinely use Bahasa Malaysia and indigenous languages in their religious practices, including describing God as “Allah” in their prayers and holy book.