Why put a ‘tokong’ in a public park?

Penang Opposition leader Jahara Hamid queries the need for a place of worship at newly-renovated Armenian Street Park.

GEORGE TOWN: Opposition leader Jahara Hamid (Umno-Telok Ayer Tawar) queried the need for places of worship at the state Legislative Assembly, stating such structures might offend the other races.

Alluding to the recently refurbished Armenian Street Park, which included a Chinese “tokong” (shrine), Jahara said that the designers of this new park had included a compound filled with idols.

“It is clear that this is a Western-influenced design.

“Building of a park must take into account the sensitivities of other races.

“Muslims will not go pray there for sure, but some may be confused,” she said during the debate on the motion of thanks to the Yang di-Pertua Negeri this afternoon.

Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng (DAP-Air Putih) interjected, saying the park was “rebuilt” to mirror the older one. The tokong, he pointed out, was part of the old park.

“When the park was rebuilt, they wanted to protect the existing features at the park.

“There was no objection. Come on lah, it is not good to raise such matters.”

Lim added that the park was rebuilt with funds granted by a federal agency, which also supervised the construction.

“This park was built by the Penang Island City Council and Think City, a federal agency involved with heritage.

“They are not involved in religion. They were just trying to build a park, not to build spirits. It is just a concept.

“There is nothing spiritual about this park.”

Lim said the tokong was part of the park’s heritage, not religion.

Jahara told Lim that she was not against places of worship but such shrines should be separated from public parks.

“It might be conceptual, but it’s physical. They put up a shrine there.

“Heritage should not be mixed with religion.”

Teh Lai Heng (DAP-Komtar) then reminded Jahara that people were free to practise their faiths.

“The shrine you are talking about is the Datuk Kong shrine. It was moved to a position close to the original one.

“Originally, the tokong was there. This is 1Malaysia when it comes to religion. What is there to separate?

“We did not create the tokong there. It had been there for a long time. Are you saying Chinese people cannot pray there?”