BY TANIA LAM & SARAH HAFIZAH CHANDRA
KUCHING: The Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) and Unifor Charitable Trust are separate bodies providing different services.
“Unifor is a unit under the Chief Minister’s department while Unifor Charitable Trust is a non-governmental organisation (NGO). Basically, Unifor is like Majlis Islam whereas Unifor Charitable Trust is like Baitumal – which are two different organisations,” said Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian in clarifying public confusion between the two bodies.
As a government entity, Unifor provides assistance in the physical development of various non-Muslim houses of worship whereas Unifor Charitable Trust focuses on providing support to the welfare and socio-economic activities of non-Muslims in the state.
Dr Sim said this at the Unifor Financial Assistance 2020 (Phase One) cheque presentation ceremony at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here today.
On the Unifor Complex, Dr Sim said the Unifor Charitable Trust would eventually generate income to help all other religions in matters of welfare.
He pointed out that Unifor reflected the uniqueness of Sarawak in which the state government had allocated funds and land for the development of non-Islamic houses of worships.
“This is Sarawak – we share our resources and prosperity with everybody be it Muslim, Christian, Buddhist or Hindu,” he added.
