By Brad Rantayy
MIRI, May 29: Worshippers and visitors attending church services or other activities held at Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) Taman Tunku Bahasa Kayan Miri will have access to more parking spaces after the completion of work to upgrade the church’s parking area.
The project is fully funded by the state government through Telang Usan assemblyman Dennis Ngau.
At a cheque presentation event held at Dennis’ community service centre on Tuesday, the assemblyman expressed hope that his small contribution would help to solve the parking problem faced by those who visited the church, especially during church services on Sundays.
The problem has existed since the church building came into use since October 2017.
“Having attended several services and events held at the church, I noticed the congregation found difficulty with parking, which is made worse as the church building is located within the Taman Tunku light industrial area,” Dennis opined.
He also revealed that a big portion of his annual Minor Rural Project (MRP) fund has been channelled to fund church, mosque and temple building upgrades, as well as to support various activities held by members of all these houses of worship.
“This shows our state leaders and government support and care for all religions in this land,” he said.
On hand to receive the MRP cheque amounting to RM45,000 were the church deacons lead by deacon and former headmaster Wan Ngau Lah.
Initially set up as a branch church under the wings of BEM Bahasa Kayan Pujut 3 Miri, BEM Taman Tunku Bahasa Kayan Miri has now grown into a full fledged BEM church under the Borneo Evangelical Mission Church Sarawak with more than 800 registered members.
The church’s first premises was a rented shoplot located within the Taman Tunku commercial area.
After several years, the old venue became too small to cope with the increasing membership.
According to church treasurer Anyie Ajeng, in view of the growing service attendance, the church committee with support from BEM Headquarters has already submitted a fund request to the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) Sarawak.
Even with the added capacity of the current church building than its previous premises, the church is already unable to hold all the service goers and this has forced the committee to think and plan for the church’s needs, Anyie added.
Meanwhile, Wan Ngau conveyed the church’s thanks and appreciation to Dennis who is also a former deacon of BEM Bahasa Kayan Pujut 3 and the state government for the continuous support the church has received all these years without which their efforts to provide a comfortable environment for worship would be difficult.
BEM Taman Tunku Bahasa Kayan Miri members are mostly Kayans and those who understand the Kayan dialect from Baram and Belaga. — DayakDaily
