KUCHING: Sarawak's Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) will receive a bigger allocation of RM110mil in 2024, up from RM100mil this year, says Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg.
"Since the state's revenue has increased, I will add another RM10mil for Unifor to carry out its activities," he said at a Unifor appreciation dinner here on Wednesday (Dec 20) night.
Abang Johari said the state government's approach to economic and social development was based on fairness to all Sarawakians, irrespective of race or religion.
"Everyone is a stakeholder in our efforts to provide a fair income and living conditions for our people," he said.
He added that it was also important to sustain the harmonious relationships among Sarawakians based on mutual respect.
"We don't touch on the sensitivities of religion but move forward together peacefully," he said.
Separately, Abang Johari said Universiti Malaya was interested to set up an off-campus law faculty in Sarawak.
"The subjects will include native customary rights and the Malaysia Agreement 1963," he said.
Earlier, Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said Sarawak had registered 2,453 non-Muslim houses of worship with a total of 1.8 million members statewide.
Since 2017, he said, the state government had approved total allocations of RM313.2mil to the various houses of worship.
In addition, he said Unifor had received 515 new applications amounting to RM341.8mil.
"However, from 2017 until now, 91 organisations have yet you begin their projects.
"Our policy is that we will not consider new applications from these organisations until they have utilised their earlier allocations," Uggah said.
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