M’sia’s top Buddhist leader apologises over surau incident

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysia’s top Buddhist leader apologised to Muslims yesterday on behalf of a Buddhist group from Singapore, which had held a meditation session in a surau, or Muslim prayer room, at a resort in Kota Tinggi, Johor. The Singaporean operator of the resort has been arrested.

In a brief statement, the Chief High Priest of Malaysia, Mr K Sri Dhammaratana, expressed regret over the incident and called on followers of the faith to be more mindful of religious sensitivities in their worship.

“We would like to apologise to our Muslim brothers and sisters for the actions of a certain Buddhist group from Singapore in having their meditation session at the surau of a resort in Kota Tinggi.

“I advise Buddhists in Malaysia and Singapore to respect the religious sensitivities of other religions while carrying out our own religious obligations and responsibilities,” he said.

Muslims constitute about 60 per cent of Malaysia’s 29 million-strong population and Islam is the official religion.

A YouTube video depicting a Buddhist group, led by a monk, using the surau at the resort for meditation surfaced this week. It has generated more than 10,000 views.

The 45-year-old operator of Tanjung Sutera Resort, who has Malaysian permanent resident status, was arrested on Sunday and was yesterday remanded for four days. The Singapore-born Muslim is being investigated under Section 295 of the Penal Code for defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class. He was named in Malaysian reports as Syed Ahmed Alkaff.

Malaysia’s Berita Harian daily reported on Monday that the resort operator had said he did not think giving permission to believers of other religions to use the surau was wrong.

He was quoted as saying: “This is because they only wanted to use the surau for meditation. So we allowed them to use the surau in the resort but their bringing other religious items into the surau was done without my knowledge.

“I have no intention of hurting anyone’s feelings. My intention is to show that Islam is universal and tolerant.”

Johor religious authorities have said the surau was not built according to specifications, including that of facing the Kaaba in Mecca. It is understood that the authorities might demolish the structure to prevent it from being used as a surau in the future. AGENCIES