State government approves RM500,000 grant to temple
SIBU: The state government has approved a RM500,000 grant for the construction of the Sri Maha Mariamman Temple here, which is expected to cost a total of RM1.65 million.
Assistant Minister of Education and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee disclosed this yesterday when presenting a cheque for RM100,000 from Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) to the temple president K Manogaran – being part of the RM500,000 contribution.
“Another RM300,000 is from the Rural Transformation Programme (RTP) fund and the balance of RM100,000 is from my Minor Rural Project (MRP) fund,” he said.
Dr Annuar, who is also Assistant Minister of Housing and Public Health, further mentioned that Public Works Department (JKR) is the supervising agency for the project.
Meanwhile, according to Manogaran, works will commence this Jan 27 where the project will take about a year to complete.
He said the temple has about 1,000 worshippers.
“There are about 400 Malaysian Indians in Sibu while between 700 and 800 workers from India who are working here, would occasionally come to worship,” he explained.
He said the temple founded in 1920 will celebrate its 100th year in 2020.
He thanked the state government for the assistance as well as people of Sibu of various backgrounds and religions for their help.
“Sarawak is an excellent example of a melting pot in Malaysia where people of all races and different cultures and religions live together harmoniously,” Manogaran said.