LAWAS: The racial diversity in Sarawak has made it a unique state, just like a beautiful garden full of colourful flowers, said its Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Awang Tengah Ali Hassan.

Despite the diverse society, he said, the people are able to live peacefully and harmoniously together in good or bad times by helping one another.

“We are united in diversity. Sarawak is like a garden full of colourful flowers, so beautiful and so unique, and the commitment of the government is to ensure that this is continuously maintained,” he said during a Pre-Christmas and New Year 2021 celebration here Saturday night.

The state government, he said, is also committed to maintaining the people’s religious freedom and the freedom for them to practise their customs and culture.

He said Sarawak is politically stable because the people have always put the interest of unity above all.

“The interests of any race, whether the majority or minority group, will be defended or fought for. The fact is that there is not a single race whose majority can rule on their own. We can only get a majority with all races working together with each other,” he added.

Awang Tengah, who is also the Bukit Sari state assemblyman urged the people in Lawas to continue to support the government under the leadership of Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.

He said the establishment of the Unit for Other Religions (Unifor) on April 27, 2017 under the Chief Minister’s Department, a brainchild of former Chief Minister the late Pehin Sri Adenan Satem, is proof that the Sarawak government supports and values other religions’ development in the state.

“It is only in Sarawak and this is the strength that we have to become the only politically stable state in the country,” he added. — Bernama