Call for SIIC to hold more interfaith forums focusing on grassroots

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Zabariah (front, ninth right) and Ngenang, on her left, join the speakers and participants of the forum in a group photo. Seen from Zahariah’s right are Firdaus, Bishop Ng, Selvaraj and Wong.

MIRI: Interfaith forums should be held more often, focusing more on the grassroots level especially school children.

The key objectives are to raise public awareness and understanding of religions, to address social ills affecting the communities, and also to serve as an effective mechanism to promote racial and religious harmony.

In this respect Sarawak Islamic Information Centre (SIIC), in collaboration with the Sarawak government’s Unit for Other Religions (Unifor), conducted a forum on ‘Faith and Noble Values’ at Miri Islamic Complex yesterday.

The panellists discussed the subject with over 200 participants of various faiths, where a consensus was reached – that such a forum should be held more frequently in the future.

Some of the participants also suggested that such forum should also be run in the rural areas, focusing on primary school children.

SIIC chief executive officer Zabariah Matali moderated the session, of which the panellists were Wong Seng Ing who is in charge of propagation for Miri Buddhist Society, Bishop of Diocese of Miri-Roman Catholic Church Bishop Richard Ng, Selvaraj Grapragasem who is advisor to Miri Hindu Society and Sri Kamini Durga Eswari Amman Temple, and Muslim social activist and motivational speaker Firdaus Wong Wai Hung.

Unifor director Datu Dr Ngenang Jangu was also present.

“The centre has been running the interfaith forum since 2009, as a platform for discussions among people of different faiths regarding current issues and concerns – all meant to create better understanding of the various religions and faiths.

“It was set up to promote and communicate the universality of Islam so as to create a better understanding and an enhanced appreciation of Islam among the multi-ethnic and multi-religious populace in Sarawak,” said the SIIC in a statement.