During the public hearing on the MPSJ Draft Local Plan last month, the Buddhist community requested for 39 plots of land to be allocated for the building of Buddhist temples. For many Buddhists and non-Buddhists alike, include those elected officials and local council officers, it may come as a shock that a religious group ask for "so many" plots of religious land.
It may looks like the Buddhists are very demanding but on the contrary it was the opposite. Basing on the Ministry of Housing and Local Government guidelines which stated that a plot of land for the building of a place of worship shall be allocated to every 2,600 adherents of the respective non-Muslim religion.
Based on the official census and projections by the state government there are about 220,000 Buddhists within the MPSJ administrative areas. Translate this figure in tandem to the guidelines for land for places of worship, the Buddhists community should be asking for 85 plots of land!
Another matter that might arise is the question whether the Buddhist community are capable of managing this number of religious land if the state government agrees to allocate it. No one will really know for sure what will happen next but one thing is definitely very clear. If not enough land are allocated, the Buddhist community will be facing the lack of space for the devotees in 20 to 30 years down the road.
Once the Local Plan has been gazetted and not enough land for temples was allocated because the Buddhist did not asked for it, the community will be left out in the cold in the local land development. It is better to demand for it now rather than not having enough space to cater to future needs of the people. If we don't ask for it now, our next generation might not have any land to ask. - Loka
No comments:
Post a Comment