Use festive season to enhance racial unity, religious harmony — Majang

MIRI: For the people of Sarawak, the festive season serves as a platform to further enhance racial unity and rel igious harmony in the state.

In stating this, Samalaju assemblyman Majang Renggi said visiting open houses during festive seasons is a common practice in Sarawak.

Majang was met on his round of Christmas visits to Rumah Gansor in Sungai Sebatu, Suai on Wednesday.

He advised the people to always uphold such good spirit and the concept of open house to foster goodwill and unity.

Later on the same day, he paid similar visit to Rumah Junit, a nearby longhouse.

Besides extending festive season greetings to the longhouse folks, he announced some government grants to both longhouses - RM200,000 under Rural Transformation Programme ( RTP) to lay gravel foundation at the front compound of the two longhouses, RM8,000 each under Minor Rural Project ( MRP) grant to the women bureau of both longhouses and RM10,000 for each church at the two longhouses.

Among those accompanying the assemblyman was Niah Chinese community leader Penghulu Haw Min Wai.

In announcing this yesterday, Pending assemblywoman Violet Yong said a total of 174 SJKC and mission schools in Sarawak benefited from the fund which constituted 18.78 per cent of the total allocation for these schools in the country.

“There are 191 SJKC in Sarawak. Of the RM9.39 million, RM804,600 went to the six mission schools,” she said at a press conference here yesterday.

The six mission schools were SK St Paul, SJKC Sam Hap Hin, SK St Martin, SK Methodist Anglo Chinese, SJK Sacred Heart Chinese and SJKC Methodist.

According to Yong, there are 883 SJKC across the country.

She said the RM9.39 million had been electronically transferred to the accounts held by the respective schools board of management.

This marked the first time the channelling of education fund was done electronically and systematically, she pointed out.

“The money was transferred to all the schools at one go rather than handing them out one by one by visiting those schools.”

She said it took the MoE at least four months to implement such a systematic mechanism of doling out the education fund to the various schools that had requested for assistance.

She explained that the MoE had to first set up a website to receive requests that were submitted electronically after which audit would be done on the requests to determine the amount of fund to be given.

“I am confident that from 2019, the system will improve further.”

Yong said she had pledged a grant of RM45,000 for a repainting project for SJK Chung Hua Pending as an additional amount to the RM65,000 the school received from MoE.

Also with her at the conference was Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Chong Chieng Jen, who asserted that the fund- channelling system adopted by the MoE “is hassleless”.

He called upon schools that need funds for renovation and development to submit their applications as early as possible.

Prior to May 9 this year, the previous government organised handover ceremonies at various schools to dole out the allocation through the leaders of the respective component political parties.