Sarawak’s Christian community praised for longstanding role in state’s development

KUCHING (Dec 11): The Christian community has been praised for its longstanding role in Sarawak’s development.

Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Dr Sim Kui Hian described the community’s contributions as integral to the state’s social, educational, and spiritual landscape.

Citing the Unit for Other Religions’ (Unifor) records and the 2020 census, Dr Sim said Christians make up 50.1 per cent of Sarawak’s population, totalling 1.229 million people, representing a diverse tapestry of denominations with 2,333 houses of worship statewide.

The Roman Catholic Church has the largest number of churches at 712, followed by the Borneo Evangelical Mission (BEM) with 662, and the Anglican Church with 306.

Other denominations include the Seventh-day Adventist Church (202), Methodist Church (182), Independent Churches (129), Independent Churches under Sarawak Evangelical Christian Association (71), Baptist Church (55), as well as Blessed Church and The Salvation Army with two each.

He said the Sarawak government, through Unifor, had approved RM475 million from 2017 to 2025 to assist religious communities, with the Christian community receiving RM379.31 million for 2,258 projects under the Sarawak Christian Fund (SDAF).

“It gives me great pride to acknowledge the tremendous contributions of the Christian community to the growth and development of Sarawak in nation building,” he said in a Facebook post.

This followed a Pre-Christmas Dinner attended by Governor Tun Pehin Sri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar and Toh Puan Datuk Patinggi Fauziah Mohd Sanusi with leaders of the Christian community and other religious heads under Unifor on Wednesday.

Dr Sim also highlighted the historical role of Christian missionaries in shaping Sarawak’s education system, noting that mission schools such as St Joseph’s, St Teresa’s, St Thomas’, and St Mary’s produced generations of Sarawakians who excelled academically and professionally.

“Many of Sarawak’s respected leaders, including four out of six chief ministers and the Premier, were alumni of SMK St Joseph. This is the real contribution of the Christian community to Sarawak’s human capital and to our future,” he added.