Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Haji Aman said 161 schools and 74 non-Muslim religious bodies in Sabah received the annual allocation for education excellence and spiritual development, respectively.
Musa, who is also Finance Minister, said this year the State Government increased the allocation for special assistance schools which comprised Chinese schools and Mission schools to RM8 million, compared with RM7.879m last year.
"We will always strive to assist schools in the state by providing the best to improve the standard of education among students in rural areas and for the less privileged," he said at the handing over of cheques to representatives of schools and non-Muslim religious bodies at Magellan Sutera Hotel, Friday.
The 161 school recipients comprise 74 government-aided Chinese schools, 51 kindergartens, 14 government secondary schools, nine Mission schools, nine independent Chinese schools and four government-aided Chinese secondary schools.
The 84 non-Islamic religious bodies made up of 14 churches of different denominations, six Hindu temples, 64 Chinese temples.
Musa also assured that the State Government would not stop assisting education institutions in Sabah and will always give serious attention towards improving facilities in the learning institutions in order to produce quality, highly skilled and credible human capital.
"The State Government is also giving attention to spiritual development in Sabah. To achieve this, RM11.620m has been allocated to non-Muslim religious bodies. This figure is an addition to last year's RM10.48m. Under the State Budget for 2009, we also agreed to provide RM20 million for the same," he said.
Allocation for these non-Islamic religious bodies especially churches for Christians, Chinese temples, Hindu and Sikh temples, Musa said was a clear indication of the State Government's commitment in upholding freedom of religion for the people.
He said this move is also aimed at encouraging religious and spiritual development among the people and the government believes that stressing on religious and spiritual virtues can strengthen quality and outstanding personality development.
"I would like also to stress that such a huge allocation being channeled continuously to the recipients clearly proved that the Barisan Nasional government is fair, attentive and safeguarding the rights of all people irrespective of races and religious beliefs."
"I am raising this because there are certain quarters who often claim that the government sidelines the special assistance schools and the development aspect of other non-Islamic religious bodies," Musa said.
Among those present were Deputy Chief Ministers Datuk Seri Joseph Pairin Kitingan and Datuk Raymond Tan, Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun, Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Peter Pang, Resource Development and Information Technology Minister Datuk Dr Yee Moh Chai and Assistant Minister to the Chief Minister Datuk Edward Khoo.
22 November, 2008- Daily Express
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