RM400,000 from PM for P'pang churches
Published on: Tuesday, July 07, 2015
Penampang: The Prime Minister Dato' Seri Mohd Najib Tun Razak has approved almost RM400,000 to repair two selected churches and distributing musical instruments of organs to 20 churches here.Umno Penampang Divisional Chief Datuk John Ambrose, who disclosed this, said both funding were approved on June 2 and 5, respectively, after he submited applications to Najib to consider such request from the Christian community here."I am very pleased that our Prime Minister has looked into my applications and granted total funding of RM380,000 to repair two churches here and distribution of 20 musical organs to 20 churches as well.
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"St Michael's Parish Church and St. Aloysius Church here will be repaired with funding of RM150,000 each while RM80,000 would be used to purchase 20 organs for 20 churches including four in Kota Kinabalu," he said.Ambrose said this in his speech when opening the breaking of fast and presenting contributions to suraus main committee chairmen here and 157 underprivileged people at Peter Ondu Hall of Prisons staff quarters at Taman Mat Salleh in Kepayan near here on Sunday.Umno Penampang Religious and Spiritual Development Bureau in cooperation with Penampang MCA Division jointly organised the event with the presence of Umno Sabah Islamic Religious Bureau head Datuk Mohd Arifin Mohd Arif cum Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister, Penampang MCA head Datuk Francis Goh, Umno Penampang Deputy Chief Datuk Mohd Hassan Hasnol Datuk Ayub, Umno Penampang Religious Bureau and Spirit Development head Dr. Abd Rashid Hassan, State Prison Director Ab. Basir bin Mohamad, Penampang District Officer Lovita Koisun and other officials.Umno Penampang has donated RM16,000 and RM10,000 from MCA Penampang for contributions to the recipients. Of the 157 recipients, about 80 are Muslims while the rest are non-Muslims who are in need of assistance.
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Ambrose has also announced that all suraus main committees will be receiving RM1,000 in conjunction with the fasting month of Ramadan.He said he was thankful and grateful that the Federal Government through Najib granted such funding to provide such musical facilities to the Christian community here although he requested 50 churches to be provided with the organs.
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Nonetheless, he said he will continue to apply funding to accommodate the need of another 30 churches for the musical instrument from the Prime Minister to be considered."Approval of the funding also showed the attentiveness and concern of Najib who is also the Umno President to the religious needs of the Christian community."He has shown that Umno is not seen as anti-Christianity…Therefore, I am urging all here not to be influenced with propagandas and slanders spread by the Opposition and other quarters who attack our Prime Minister," he said.In fact, Ambrose said he has instructed Dr. Rashid and his bureau committee to identify suraus here that need to be repaired as well as Chinese temples and other house of prayers of other faiths in the district here.He said he is optimistic that any application for the purpose of religious needs here would be accommodated by the Barisan Nasional Federal Government that is practicing 1Malaysia: People's First, Performance Now.Ambrose has also renewed loyalty pledge of the Umno division here to solidly support the Prime Minister and his leadership as well as to the Sabah Umno Chief Datuk Seri Musa Aman who is also the Chief Minister.He also emphasised the importance of respecting other people's religious faith so as not to break the existing strong unity among the multiracial people."Our nation would be in chaos and no peace could be prevailed if the people from different backgrounds are not respecting each other religious faiths, culture and traditions.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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