the predominant religion in Sabah, although its society remained secular. In the 2020 census, the percentage of Muslims was around 69.6%, while that of Christians was 24.7% and that of Buddhism 5.1%. In 1960, the population percentage of Muslims was only 37.9%, roughly the same as Animists (33.3%), while the percentage of Christians was 16.6% and those of other religions 12.2%. The increase was mainly contributed through the uncontrolled high immigration rate and controversial mass conversions in recent decades. According to the COLONY OF NORTH BORNEO ANNUAL REPORT, 1960, notes that many indigenous groups maintained pagan beliefs, while coastal areas were majority Muslim. Other religions mentioned were traditional Chinese beliefs and various Christian denominations. Many indigenous groups saw conversions to Christianity, in part due to cultural compatibility such as having no ban on pork. Several other religions, such as Chinese folk religion as well as the Indian religions of Hinduism and Sikhism, are also practised in the state. Languages Malay is the main language spoken in the state, although with a different creole from Sarawak Malay and Peninsular Malay. The state has its own slang for Malay which originated either from indigenous words, Brunei Malay, Suluk, Cocos Malay and Indonesian language. The indigenous languages of Sabah can be divided into four language families of Dusunic, Murutic, Paitanic and Sama–Bajau. The indigenous languages however facing extinction due to widespread use of Malay language particularly in home as parents often see the indigenous language as inconvenient especially in job related. However as awareness for the indigenous language becoming more obvious, more modern parents insist on passing down their mother tongue language. As the Hakka forms the majority of Chinese in Sabah, the Hakka dialect is the most commonly spoken Chinese dialect in the state apart from Cantonese and Hokkien dialects. Following the change of the government after the 2018 general election, the new Sabah government has stated that there is no restriction on the usage of English in the state, adding that even if the Education Ministry stated that it is unlawful for English be used in Sabah, the restrictions will not be allowed to be imposed in the state, and that the state government will undo the previous improper law since the restrictions will only cause more damage to their younger generations especially when they need to work in private firms or organisations that require English proficiency. The new state government