Kota Kinabalu: Sabahans are again reminded to reject attempts by certain parties who abuse religion to create disharmony so they can achieve their selfish agenda.Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman said Sabah remains free from religion related issues because the people respect one another regardless of their race, faith and culture."I'm pleased to stress that religion related issues don't exist in Sabah. Let us not be influenced by certain parties who have their own agenda.
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"All this while, we, in Sabah, have been living in peace and harmony and respect one another regardless of our race, religion and culture. "Even the Prime Minister himself acknowledges and recognises that Sabah is the best example of the 1Malaysia spirit," he said during the presentation of financial assistance from the State Government to non-Islamic schools and religious bodies for the West Coast South and Lower Interior areas, Tuesday.He urged the people to continue to preserve the spirit of unity and harmony that they have enjoyed for so long.At the event, he announced that the State Government has decided to allocate RM31.4 million for schools and non-Islamic religious bodies in Sabah this year.
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The amount disbursed since Musa became CM in 2004 now totalled RM333,990 million.Of the sum this year, RM14 million is for schools including Chinese independent and mission schools and kindergartens.
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The total allocation for churches, Chinese temples, Hindu and Sikh's places of worship is RM17.4 million.Musa said of the amount disbursed to non-Islamic religious bodies in Sabah, RM11.8 million is allocated to churches; RM5.3 million to Chinese temples and RM270,000 to Hindu and Sikh temples.In terms of disbursement to schools, he said independent Chinese schools will receive RM3.6 million; national type secondary schools or Sekolah Menengah Jenis Kebangsaan are given RM2.1 million; national primary and secondary schools (Sekolah Rendah Kebangsaan/Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan) will get RM2 million. The largest sum goes to Chinese medium national type schools (Sekolah Jenis Kebangsaan Cina) at RM5.45 million, and kindergartens will receive RM605,000 and private mission schools RM215,000.A total of 551 places of worship and schools in Sabah will benefit from the grant."I wish to state here that the Sabah Government will continue to assist non-Islamic religious bodies and schools as we have done over the years. Our records show that since 2014, a total of RM188,542,180 has been disbursed to these bodies and RM145,448,019 to schools," he said.Tuesday's event kicked off the disbursement of funds where grants were presented to representatives of non-Islamic religious bodies and schools from West Coast South and Lower Interior. This will be followed by presentation of allocations to representatives from other regions.The total sum for both schools and non-Islamic religious bodies in West Coast South is RM16.8 million and Lower Interior RM1.2 million."I understand from feedback that past allocations have been used efficiently and have allowed place of worship and schools to make repairs, extensions and to purchase items."We acknowledge that we cannot meet requests for the total sum the schools and religious bodies have requested, but let me assure you we have done our very best to allocate what we can," he said adding that due to prudent financial management, the State Government has been able to steadily increase this annual allocation.Since 2004, the annual allocation to schools and non-Islamic religious bodies has kept increasing. This year's total allocation is the biggest."Our close ties with the Federal Government provides us a platform to seek solutions to improve facilities that will make teaching and learning more effective, and with that it'll boost the standard of education in Sabah," he said.Stay up-to-date by following Daily Express’s Telegram channel.
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