Gerakan vice-President Datuk Kohilan Pillay couldn’t be further from the truth when he said that the Penang State Government is ‘scoring brownie points’ and ‘insincere’ after the announcement in allocating land to build churches and temples on the mainland by Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.
This unfounded and unsubstantial allegation by Datuk Kohilan Pillay simply shows that it is actually he who is scoring brownie points amongst his party peers and BN coalition by making baseless criticisms against the Penang state government on this matter.
Perhaps Datuk Kohilan Pillay should consider reflecting on the acreage of land that had been allocated by the then Gerakan led government for over a period of 39 years that non-Muslim places of worship had been unregulated, operating illegally and in most cases, from shoplots as there was no concrete effort by the state government to source for land to be allocated for building non-Muslim places of worship.
The people of Penang, particularly the non-Muslim communities had largely suffered for 39 years under Gerakan as there was simply not enough land allocated by the state government for devotees and believers to set up their places of worship on state government land.
The people of Penang and Malaysians in every state deserve a respectable, conducive place of worship rather than being forced to use residential premises and commercial shoplots as places of worship.
As announced by the Penang state government, 500 car parks will be built along with utility connections like electricity lines with street lights, water supply, sewerage system and telecommunication lines for the 32 lots allocated lots on the 22-acres of prime land for the purpose of non-Muslim organisations to put in their proposals to purchase the land to be used to build their place of worship.
Does Kohilan Pillay want non-Muslim places of worship to continue to operate under trees, on no-mans land or from shop lots?
The religious diversity and the right to profess ones faith without fear or favour has been greatly advocated by the now Penang State Government unlike the time of Gerakan’s tenure. Today, Penangites stand united in rejecting all forms of bigotry and racist policies propagated by equally race-based component parties in the Barisan Nasional.
Take heed Gerakan, stop being thorns in the flesh when a positive initiative is put forward to ensure that the rights and the welfare of the people are well taken care of, particularly in this case on the allocation of state land by the state government for the purpose of building a place of worship.
Instead of being a wet blanket, Datuk Kohilan Pillay and his party should be on board to encourage places of worship that operate from shop lots, under trees and at a risk of being relocated to apply with the Penang state authorities to legitimise their places of worship so that all parishioners and devotees can enjoy a safe, clean, conducive environment for them to profess their faith.