The Penang state government has pledged an annual grant of at least RM50,000 to an inter-religious body today.

selangor dap congress 2011 lim guan eng Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (left) announced the grant will be given to the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) Penang chapter, after a meeting in Komtar today.

Lim is chairperson of the non-Muslim religious affairs executive council, which was established last year as an initiative to promote inter-religious harmony through constructive dialogue.

 

Today’s meeting was held as part of the regular dialogues between the Penang government and the MCCBCHST.

        

“We have also agreed to extend our yearly educational school funding to Punjabi schools, for which the Punjabi community has expressed its gratitude,” said Lim at the media conference.

“We will also organise a Wesak Day Open House,” he added.

Lim added that Penang government will also work with the Hindu Endowments Board to find a suitable seafront site where Hindu final rites can be performed with the release of flowers and white rice.

In May last year, representatives of the council paid a courtesy call on Lim to congratulate him on setting up a non-Muslim religious affairs portfolio.

Lim’s action to set up the new portfolio had been rejected by Pertubuhan Kebajikan Al-Ehsan Malaysia (Malaysian People’s Welfare Organisation), whose deputy secretary general Arshad Kassim said with the move “Lim could create confusion on the position of Islam as the official religion of the country”.

The organisation then handed over a memorandum on the issue to the state government at Komtar in February last year.

Perak, under the Barisan Nasional government, had also established a similar council to represent non-Muslims and as a complementary effort to the Muslim religious affairs portfolio already in existence in all peninsula states.