KOTA KINABALU – The Gabungan Rakyat Sabah government has been urged to match Warisan Plus’ allocation to assist the state’s non-Islamic schools and religious institutions.
DAP’s Kepayan assemblyman, Jannie Lasimbang, said under the then Warisan government, the allocation was increased from RM32 million in 2018 to RM43 million this year.
“This is contrary to insinuations on social media by some individuals that Warisan Plus made empty promises on its support for non-Islamic institutions. It is also mischievous for Star Sabah (on its Chinese-language Facebook page) to make a racial link to this support to churches.
“Datuk Seri Shafie entrusted me with the responsibility of meeting religious leaders regularly to seek their input, and I have adopted this as one of my important tasks,” she said, referring to former chief minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal.
“That was why during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was easy for me to communicate with church leaders on the approved assistance for pastors, priests and sisters, and to engage them about the SOPs during church service.”
Financial support was handed mostly directly to recipients, which served as an important opportunity to meet these institutions and monitor some of the building or renovation projects that were approved, she added. – The Vibes, December 17, 2020
