KUCHING, June 26 — Sarawak Premier Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg gave insights on how Sarawak preserves its strong racial unity and religious harmony when he took the stage at the Regional Islamic Da’wah Council of South East Asia and Pacific (RISEAP) Southern Zone engagement session in Auckland, New Zealand today.
In a statement issued by the Sarawak Premier’s Office, he said the formula used to achieve this ought to be shared with other communities outside the state as the basis to create a better world with healthy interfaith and inter-racial relationships.
“Respect must be accorded to other races and religions as respect can only be earned in the inclusive development of religion and races,” he said at the session attended by RISEAP members from Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, Tonga, New Caledonia and Western Samoa.
Abang Johari’s trip to New Zealand was his first visit to a member country since being elected as RISEAP president last January.
He said as a Muslim leader tasked to administer and develop a multi-religious and multi-racial state, he was duty bound to ensure that his administration was inclusive and protected the rights and interests of all races and religions, based on the five “Maqasid Syariah” principles in Sarawak.
According to him, it was his duty to ensure that other religions beside Islam were given parallel opportunities to thrive based on the five principles, namely the protection of life; protection of property; protection of health; protection of religion; and protection of dignity.
Abang Johari said in Sarawak, a Unit for Other Religions (UNIFOR) under the purview of his office was formed to ensure that other religions had proper and dignified places of worship, with RM100 million allocated this year for the purpose.
Mentioning that he himself was a product of a mission school, he said funding was also given for operational purposes in mission schools, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Equally important, he told the session participants that Muslim community development must also be tuned towards the fast-paced technological change of the present era and initiatives towards addressing climate change and sustainability.
For this, he said Sarawak is introducing the digital, hydrogen and green economy, enhancement of its research sphere and various initiatives against climate change such as Carbon Capture Storage Utilisation (CCUS) and carbon trading.
He added that education and talent development focus also came as another important approach where five international schools based on the Cambridge syllabus and one Islamic international school were being set up in Sarawak to ensure the state’s global stature in education.
RISEAP, now with 24 member countries, was formed in 1980 with the late Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra al-Haj, Malaysia’s first Prime Minister as its founding president, primarily to bring together Muslim-minority countries in East Asia and in the Pacific to pursue collective ambitions in the expansion and cause of Islam.
