Give Teng two weeks, Lim must intervene, says Selangor MCA

Selangor MCA has urged Selangor exco member Teng Chang Kim and DAP to resolve supposed errors in the state's guidelines for developers on non-Muslim places of worship in two weeks.

"We urge all parties to accept Teng's call not to politicise the issue and give him and DAP two weeks to resolve the problem," said Selangor MCA secretary Ng Chok Sin at a press conference today.

He said that although Teng had apologised, the guidelines still need to be rectified.

"Although Teng has admitted his mistake, and so has DAP, this is a serious matter. Admitting the mistake does not solve it," he said.

He said the guidelines, which placed many restrictions on how new non-Muslim places of worship can be built, showed that PAS' influence in the state government was growing, which would lead to more Islamist policies in Selangor.

Chok Sin also urged DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng to keep his promise that DAP had chosen to remain part of the Selangor government to keep PAS in check, despite the two parties having broken ties.

If Lim failed to intervene, then he should follow Teng's example to offer his resignation, said Chok Sin.

Exco approved it twice

Among others, the guidelines stipulate that non-Muslim places of worship should not be built within 50 metres of a home owned by Muslims, and that consent of residents within a 200-metre radius in a multi-ethnic neighbourhood was required.

Teng had apologised for what he describes as an oversight. He said the guidelines would be reviewed by the state's non-Muslim affairs committee.

He said the error had been spotted prior to its approval at the state executive council in September last year and ordered for amendments to be made. However, the error remained in the final document when it was tabled for approval.

Teng also claimed that the guidelines merely serve as reference as they are not enforceable. This explanation was rubbished by Chok Sin.

He said the guidelines state that it had gone through the exco meeting at least twice - once on Oct 19, 2016 when it was approved, and again on Oct 26, 2016 when it was endorsed.

Hence, Teng and the other three non-Muslim exco members had been negligent and should apologise as well, he said, because they should be aware of its contents.

'Regressive' new rules has been enforced

Meanwhile, Selangor MCA Youth legal bureau chief Ng Kian Nan said it was misleading to claim that the guidelines are not enforceable.

He said he and the bureau once handled a case where the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council had denied a Buddhist group's planning permission several years ago, on basis of "dubious" petitions by locals and Muslim groups, together with the guideline.

To a question, Kian Nan acknowledged that similar provisions also exist in nearly all other states in Malaysia. He said these were drafted in the 1990s by the Department of Town and Country Planning for Peninsular Malaysia, and then adopted by state governments.

However, he stressed that land matters are under the state's jurisdiction, and Selangor had not only adopted the guidelines but made it even more regressive.

The rule where non-Muslim places of worship may not be built within 50 metres of a Muslim home, for example, did not exist in the second edition of the guideline.

He said the legal bureau is mulling to challenge the constitutionality of the new guidelines, particularly under Article 11 of the Federal Constitution, which provides for the freedom of religion.- Mkini