Another bump for Bodhi Park

It looks like the development of Bodhi Park in Shah Alam is going through another bumpy road again.

The building committee chairman Goh Seng Chai had submitted his resignation to the Penang-based Yayasan Belia Buddhist Malaysia (YBBM) headquarters two weeks ago. It seems the resignation was triggered by a proposed plan to hand over the Bodhi Park to the Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia(YBAM) once the long delayed centre was completed.

The plan was announced by the vice chairman of the YBBM, Tan Gin Soon during a board of directors meeting recently. This intention came as a shock to Goh and those who has been involved in the building development process because YBBM members and donors were never aware that the building will be handed over to YBAM upon completion. The understanding was to provide facilities in the building for the usage of YBAM and other Buddhist groups.

The long standing problems besetting Bodhi Park has been well known especially amongst the Buddhist community. Approvals to build the centre has been delayed for close to 20 years due to government bureaucracies and policies. The original site for the centre was even asked to be shifted to the current location. The project which was stalled for many years starts to have encouraging results when Goh took over the building committee few years ago. He persistence and close follow-up managed to overcome the various obstacles in obtaining the various approvals from the state government and local authority to build the centre. He even succeeded in getting the state government not to imposed the 36 feet heights limit on the temple.

The proposed hand over plan was even more puzzling when considering the level of interest and involvement of YBAM in the project. Even though half of the directors in YBBM were nominated by YBAM, YBAM has not been involving actively not only in the development of Bodhi Park but also the YBBM itself in recent years. YBAM was busy trying to revived the Puzhao Buddhist Vihara training centre in Kluang, Johore since the 1990s. YBAM only obtained the green light from the Johore state government recently to proceed with re-construction of the Puzhao Vihara after being told to stop construction work since 1989.

It is just a pity that after struggling for about 20 years to obtain the necessary approvals to built the temple, it has to go through another internal bump due to fickle mindedness decision making process and losing touch with reality on the ground. - Loka