SABAH TODAY

SABAHTODAY
KOTA KINABALU: A Parti Warisan Sabah official has challenged the GRS-led State Government to beat the previous allocation of RM43 million given by WarisanPlus in 2020 to non-Islamic institutions in Sabah to prove that the State benefit from the political alignment promised by the Prime Minister back in September.

In his statement today, the Information Chief of Warisan Penampang, Jeremiah Mayo Gitom said that there is nothing much to be cheered about with the RM16 million grant given out by the Chief Minister, Hajiji Mohd Noor to Sabah Council of Churches (SCC).

“Covid-19 pandemic and economic downturn necessitated the State Government to look seriously the interest of the non-Islamic religious institutions in Sabah simply because most Sabahans who are now struggling to meet ends are in desperation and putting their final hope and faith on their respective Gods.

In short, these non-Islamic religious institutions played a very important part in the State’s stability by providing solace and peace to the thousands of Sabahans particularly the churches thru their continued selfless service to the Christian communities via live airing of mass services in social medias.

So the State Government should at least appreciate the immense contribution made by these non-Islamic religious institutions in helping to keep the Sabahans optimistic by increasing the annual grant – this is so since there are so many churches, chapels and temples all over Sabah especially in the Interior that require repairs.

This is the right time to repair or renovate these non-Islamic religious buildings so the State Government must increase the allocation to them,” he said in a statement.

Mayo added that it is the responsibility of the GRS-led State Government particularly Hajiji Mohd Noor to chase after Putrajaya for the necessary grant for the non-Islamic religious institutions in Sabah.

“The RM16 million given to SCC is a meagre sum compared to the RM1.6 billion received by JAKIM through the Budget 2021, so I reckoned that if GRS had really cared for the interest and welfare of the non-Islamic religious institutions in Sabah or aware of the contribution given by these institutions, then Hajiji and his deputies should have procured from the Federal Government a sum of at least RM50 million to SCC and another RM50 million for the rest of the non-Islamic religious.

Obviously the GRS leaders would balk at this notion but I wish to remind them all that it was Muhyiddin Yassin himself had promised to Sabahans on 18 September this year at Kudat that non-mandatory allocations which are not listed under the Federal constitution or any other agreement will be given to Sabah in return for ‘political alignment’ between the State and Putrajaya that favours PN.

So isn’t the grant and annual allocation for these non-Islamic religious institutions falls under the category of ‘non-mandatory’ allocation that Muhyiddin had said?” he concluded.