Selangor is ready and willing to see how it can better attend to the welfare and well-being of the large number of Sarawakians who are currently living and working in Selangor.

This was one of the matters discussed during an unprecedented meeting this morning in Kuching between the Menteri Besar of Selangor Azmin Ali and Sarawak’s Chief Minister Adenan Satem.

The two leaders also discussed several other areas that the two state governments could work together in the interest of the people of the two states.

Azmin ( right ) - who is also PKR deputy president - is the first menteri besar or chief minister from Pakatan Rakyat to meet with a chief minister of Sarawak.

“We welcome Adenan’s statements since he took over as chief minister of Sarawak that his government is more transparent and accountable, and we from PKR want to see how best we can work together with Sarawak to promote democracy and to defend the rights of Sarawakians,” Azmin told reporters after the meeting.

He said that with Adenan’s leadership, the two state governments could work together especially with regard to the few thousand Sarawakians residing and working in Selangor.

Church leaders’ input

“On the issue of Sarawakians in Selangor, we want to see how the state government of Selangor can support their welfare,” he added.

Azmin was accompanied on his visit by two Selangor exco members, and three Sarawak PKR state assemblypersons namely Baru Bian (Ba’Kelalan), See Chee How (Batu Lintang) and Ali Biju (Krian).

On his meeting with Sarawak church leaders yesterday ( left ), Azmin said he had fruitful discussions with them and stressed the need to continue engagements and dialogues between Muslims and Christians so there would be better understanding leading to a harmonious environment in the country.

“I was informed that 40 percent of Sarawak’s population are Christians and they are able to work closely and harmoniously with Muslims.

“Certainly, we can learn a lot from Sarawak,” said Azmin.

 

Azmin revealed he had discussed with church leaders how they could continue to conduct inter-faith dialogues to better understand and appreciate one other in the multi-religious and multi-cultural society of Malaysia in general and in Selangor and Sarawak in particular.

Selangor’s efforts revealed

Informing them of what he had undertaken in Selangor, Azmin said his government had given support to officials from Selangor Islamic Affairs Department (Jais) to visit churches in the state and to have dialogues with church leaders.

The department had done this over the past two months and the result was very positive, he said.

The new Selangor menteri besar said his government had also asked Jais to prepare the Friday sermons which were necessary to send a clear and strong message to Muslims to help them  promote  moderation and justice.

“I think this message is very important to our younger generation so that they can understand the situation better and appreciate Selangor’s multi-cultural and multi-religious society,” he said, adding Selangor would like to share their experience with and learn from Sarawak on the same purpose.

Azmin - who took over as menteri besar in September last year - said that one of his priorities was to continue discussions with the various religious groups regarding the issues of Malay and Iban language versions of the Bible.

Azmin left for Kuala Lumpur later after a three-day official visit to Sarawak.