BY NURA VALENTIANA LORNA & SHARIFAH NONG-JASIMA
KUCHING: The Sarawak Islamic Council (MIS) has launched the Mosque Innovative and Creative Group (KIK) to promote creativity and innovation among mosque management committees.
Deputy Minister for Utility and Telecommunication, Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Junaidi, who also oversees Islamic affairs, stressed the urgent need to accelerate and comprehensively foster innovation and creativity through the generation of new ideas.
He expressed optimism that the implementation of KIK could cultivate a solid, innovative, creative, and forward-thinking work culture, enhancing the quality of work and the effectiveness of mosque service delivery systems.
“In seeking new methods while carrying out tasks, we need to be creative and innovative in everything we do to provide added value. This added value is what truly distinguishes us from others, whether in terms of management quality, administration, or guidance.
“Innovation is more meaningful when it is implemented comprehensively and not just limited to competition, but rather innovation and creativity in the form of service delivery, products, ideas, and so on can be shared among all mosques and surau throughout Sarawak.”
He was speaking at the launch of the initiative at the Sarawak Islamic Complex here on Thursday (Feb 29).
Abdul Rahman added that efforts to cultivate innovation and creativity need to be deeply understood and nurtured.
He encouraged mosque managements throughout the state to devise strategies to create a conducive environment and promote healthy competition to enrich the activities of creativity and innovation in their respective mosques.
Meanwhile, MIS president Datuk Misnu Taha explained that the concept of KIK involves forming a group of individuals, consisting of management committee members or congregation members.
They come together to identify, analyse, and find solutions to their work-related problems using KIK tools and problem-solving processes.
From the KIK process, each member can contribute ideas and opinions to their group and organisation.
“In this regard, I call upon all committees to consider implementing KIK in their mosques and surau as a method to enhance their management capabilities and effectiveness.
“For the empowerment of the Mosque Management Committee, insyaAllah, we will conduct the Member Certification programme in stages in collaboration with Sarawak Islamic Skills Institute (Institut Kemahiran Islam Sarawak or IKMAS) to ensure better and more integrity-based Mosque and Surau Management, Administration, and Enlightenment,” Misnu said.
