Panel to create guidelines on inter faith harmony

The new State Government is setting up a State-level committee on Buddhism and Christianity to study the two faiths as well as creating guidelines towards treating all religions equally.

Deputy Chief Minister Christina Liew, who disclosed this, said the State Government is serious in taking into consideration all religions in Sabah for better harmony and mutual respect.

“We have ministers and assigned officers involved in setting up the committee which my Ministry is not involved.

“The guidelines are being drafted. The basic idea is to show that every religion is to be treated equally,” said Liew, who is also State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister after officiating the International High Pole Lion Dance Competition and International Traditional Chinese Dance Competition organised by Sabah Kuan Shen Lion Dance Club at the Suria Sabah Shopping Mall, on July 28.

Eighteen teams involving 300 people aged between 18 and 45 from 17 countries took part in the four-day competition July 26 — July 29. The participating countries were China, USA, Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia.

She said the new State Government has the will to do it and will walk the talk to make the committee a reality.

Earlier, Liew said she is very pleased to see people from other countries, cultures and races taking part in the competition to become Chinese lion dancers.

She said the State Government fully supports this and plans to do more research on Chinese traditional culture so that other people from different races and cultures would gain knowledge and better understanding.

Meanwhile, the Sabah Kuan Shen Lion Dance Club Chairman Dato’ Chee Chi Seng said this international competition was being held for the second time and received encouraging response. The first one was held at the Likas Sport Complex in 2016.

He said the competition has three categories namely: local teams ground competition without the high pole), international High Pole Lion Dance and international teams ground competition.

He said the main prizes for the first category is RM1,000 for the winner followed by RM800 for second place and RM500 for third place. The winner in the second category will receive RM10,000 followed by RM8,000 for second place and RM5,000 for third place.There is also a special award for seven prizes of RM1,000 each.

For the third category, Chee said the winner will receive RM5,000 followed by RM3,000 and RM2,000 for second and third placings, respectively.

Also present were Youth and Sport Minister Frankie Poon Ming Fung, Agriculture and Food Industry Minister Junz Wong, Kota Kinabalu MP Chan Foong Hin, China Consul-General Liang Caide and other officials. 

Article reproduced from Herald Malaysia online