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SARAWAK will step up scrutiny and audit of the tens of millions of ringgit given to religious organisations in the state as many had not carried out the proposed projects for places of worship after they got the funds.
These religious bodies asked the state's Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) for millions in funds to build new houses of worship and repair aged ones, but many of them had not utilised the money for the projects they proposed, said Sarawak Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
"Latest information we obtained showed that 84 construction projects have not even started though funds from the state government were given to these religious organisations.
"As for 563 ongoing projects, the latest progress reports have not been submitted by the religious bodies to the state government.
"Now there are 640 new applications for fundings amounting to another RM 431 million.
"We will not approve new allocations until the previous ones have been utilised as proposed.
"We must get the actual status reports before we even consider giving more money," he said during a Unifor gathering in Kuching.
Uggah said the state wants to help all religious communities with funding but the money must be utilised efficiently.
Earlier this year, Unifor said there were cases of big amounts of money given to certain religious organisations for building projects but these had not been carried out for a long period. - December 6, 2024