ALLOCATION RECEIVED: Ambrose (left) holding the RM1 million cheque with Bishop of Kuching Rt Rev Datuk Bolly Lapok (center) and ACS treasurer Joseph Ting on Wednesday.
KUCHING: The Christian Ecumenical Center will be extended another floor soon to include a hostel, conference room and more offices.
Association of Churches Sarawak (ACS) secretary-general Ambrose Linang said that this was made possible after Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak approved a one million ringgit grant for the extension.
He added that the addition of the hostel visiting pastors and priests would no longer have to look for their own accommodation and transport because of their talks and workshops would be held within the building.
“There will be 14 to 15 rooms for guests which is air-con. We already sent the extension design and current outlook of the building to the Prime Minister and we are happy to receive the allocation,” said Ambrose during an exclusive interview yesterday.
He added that the association’s consultants were in the midst of preparing the tender documents for the extension.
Ambrose also touched on the role of the association in looking after miison schools through the Sarawak Council of Christian Mission Schools.
The association helped secure grants totalling RM25.580 million for the 128 primary and secondary Christian mission schools in the state under the 10th Malaysia Plan.
“A grant of RM50,000 per school was first disbursed last April. That means that RM6.4 million has been distributed and we are praying for the remainder, which is RM19.18 million,” said Ambrose.
He added Christian mission schools were not given the same funding as government schools because the land of the school belonged to the missions.
“This is one issue that we are not happy about because the students we take in are not all Christians, we accept all students of all religions, but we don’t get equal allocation like other schools,” said Ambrose.
Meanwhile, Ambrose said that the council would meet its Sabah and Peninsular Malaysia counterparts next week on July 24 and 25 in the first executive committee meeting hosted by ACS.