'Buddhists meditating in surau has insulted Islam'

The action by a group of Buddhists to use a surau for meditation has insulted Islam, said the Johor Islamic Affairs Council (MAIJ).

"We need to be more stern by using existing laws to blacklist the group from entering the country. This should not happen as they should know Malaysian law.

"Their act has not only hurt the feelings (of Muslims) but also insulted Islam," MAIJ advisor Noh Gadut was quoted as saying in aBerita Harian report today.

He was referring to a Youtube video uploaded on Aug 10 which showed what appeared to be a monk inside the building, leading a group in meditation in front of a portrait of Buddha.

The 63-second video entitled: 'Chinese Buddhists pray in surau; surau becomes temple' was uploaded by one "Sebastianphiu" and has generated over 10,000 views.

The opening of the video also bore the words: "Surau tainted by heresy" and stated its location as Tanjung Sedili, Kota Tinggi, Johor.

Meanwhile, Berita Harian quoted Johor Religious Committee Abd Mutalip Abd Rahim as saying that the Johor Religious Department (JAJ) has initiated an investigation over the matter including visiting the site.

According to the daily, the surau is at a Kota Tinggi resort owned by a Singaporean Muslim who has permanent residence in this country.

'No intention to offend'
It quoted the resort's 45-year-old manager, without naming the person, defending the decision to allow the Buddhist group from Singapore to use the surau.

"The group said they wanted to use the hall for meditation but we could not fulfill the request as the hall had already been booked by others earlier on.

"So we allowed them to use the surau in the resort but they bringing other religious items into the surau was done without my knowledge," he was quoted as saying.

The manager further said that he had no ill intention in allowing the Buddhist group to use the surau as he himself is a Muslim.

"I did not think that allowing followers of other religion to use the surau was wrong because they were only using it for meditation.

"I had no intention to hurt the feelings of any parties. My intention was just to show that Islam was a universal and tolerant religion," he said.