KUCHING, Dec 8: Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian recently handed over Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) grants to three churches in Batu Kawah.
The three churches are Zhu En Church, St Mark’s Church and St Basil’s Church.
In a post on social media, Dr Sim disclosed the purpose of distributing these grants was to ensure that these religious bodies may have proper worship facilities.
The Batu Kawah assemblyman pointed out that Unifor was part of former Chief Minister Pehin Sri Adenan Satem’s legacy and that the Sarawak government had promised to increase total allocations for Unifor, which is responsible to fairly distribute financial grants to non-Muslim houses of worship.
He revealed that in 2017, the total grant was RM10 million. In 2018, it was increased to RM20 million while in 2019, it rose again to RM30 million.
In 2020, the Sarawak government allocated RM50 million to Unifor.
“Many Sarawakians confuse Unifor with Unifor Foundation. Unifor is an administrative unit of the Sarawak government while Unifor Foundation is a charitable foundation, independent of the Sarawak government though it was initially set by the Sarawak government,” Dr Sim highlighted.
He reiterated that Unifor is a unit under the Chief Minister’s Department headed by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas with full time staff from the Sarawak civil service.— DayakDaily
