Tun Mustapha and the Strengthening of Islam in Sabah: 1963 - 1973

In the early days of Sabah's independence, Muslim's interests and affairs faced numerous difficulties to be implemented and developed. This was because the composition of Muslims as minorities while the state's politics majorly governed by the non-Muslims. This scenario resulted in huge implications as it was difficult to raise the voices of Muslims in the state's administration and development policies. Based on these scenarios, there was a clear need to make changes. To achieve this goal, various efforts have been made by muslim leaders of Sabah such as Tun Mustapha. Therefore, this study aims to analyse the roles by Tun Mustapha in bringing Islam and strengthening the position in Sabah. This qualitative study was conducted by using the content analysis approach and interviews. The datas and informations obtained were analysed descriptively and arranged thematically. This study found that the relatively huge missionary and Islamization efforts by Tun Mustapha have improved the muslim's composition to majorities thus became a contributing factor to the amendment of Sabah State Constitution. It was recorded that 75,000 to 100,000 people have converted to Islam through the Islamization process. The Muslim's percentage has increased from 38.7% to 53% during Tun Mustapha's rule (1967-1976). The tremendous increase provided an opportunity for the amendment of Article 5(A) of Sabah State Constitution to recognise Islam as the official religion of Sabah on 23 September 1973. With the article's amendment, today, the difficulties of Muslim's interests and affairs in all aspects in politics and administration, economics, and socials had improved and developed.