THE damning revelation by Malaysiakini that the 2025 Selangor planning guidelines – upon closer scrutiny – has actually proposed restrictions on the height of non-Muslim houses of worship has triggered yet another round of furore after the recent barring of operating out of a shoplot controversy.
Even though it has since been put on hold in the aftermath of the shoplot controversy, non-Muslims are furious that the Selangor State Planning Guidelines and Standards for Community Facilities 2025 has the audacity to even propose that non-Muslim houses of worship structures must not be taller than any mosques in the vicinity.
“In addition, the maximum height from the ground floor to its highest point must not exceed 72 feet (21.9 metres),” highlighted Malaysia’s pioneering news portal.
“A note accompanying the provisions states that local authorities may issue notices or take enforcement action against existing buildings that exceed the height restrictions. The document didn’t explain the rationale behind the height restriction.”
Editor’s Note: Deemed Malaysia’s largest mosque, the Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Mosque (Blue Mosque) in Shah Alam is known to have one of the largest religious domes in the world and minarets that reach 460 feet (142 meters) high.
Leading the pack of aghast non-Muslim public is avid political commentator Prof James Chin who is “at a loss for words” at the latest revelation.
“This document which was approved by the Selangor state EXCO last year (2025) contains so many restrictions that it feels like it was drafted by KMI (Ketuanan Melayu Islam or Malay Muslim supremacist) supporters,” jibed the inaugural director of the Asia Institute at the University of Tasmania in a Facebook post.
Just look at the composition of the 11-member EXCO: PKR (4), DAP (4), AMANAH (2) and yet the outcome is this. So much for PKR and DAP’s claims of championing multi-racial and progressive representation.
Frankly, you would expect a document like this to come from a more conservative Moon (PAS) EXCO, not from this current line-up.
Don’t you agree? I salute YB Lee (PKR’s Petaling Jaya MP Lee Chean Chung) for exposing this. If he didn’t expose this, it would be implemented this year!”
Ironically, a Malaysiakini subscriber took the pain to research and wanted non-Muslims to remember the mostly DAP and PKR Selangor state EXCO members so that they “know what to do at the ballot box”.
DAP (Four members): Ng Sze Han (Investment, Trade and Mobility); Datuk Ng Suee Lim (Local Government Development and New Village Development); Papparaidu Veraman (Human Resources, Poverty Eradication, Indigenous and Minority Affairs); and Jamaliah Jamaluddin (Public Health, Environment, Climate Change and Green Technology).
PKR (Four members): Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari (Menteri Besar); Datuk Borhan Aman Shah (Housing, Sustainable Urban Development, Culture, Malay Customs and Heritage); Najwan Halimi (Youth, Sports, Entrepreneurship, Creative Economy and Disaster Management); Dr Mohammad Fahmi Ngah (Islamic Affairs, Halal Industry, Digital Infrastructure and Science, Technology & Innovation).
Amanah (Two members): Izham Hashim (Infrastructure and Agriculture); Anfaal Saari (Women & Family Empowerment, Social Welfare and Care Economy).
UMNO/BN (one member): Rizam Ismail (Rural Development and Unity).
Some commenters went on to lament that common sense was not allowed to prevail with regard to the height of the physical structure of buildings and the type of land they are sitting on.
“What happen if a private land is on top of a hill, taller than most buildings. Great joke,” mocked one commenter on the Malaysiakini FB page.
A presumably pious non-Muslim has this to preach: “Holiness of a soul is not found in the height of the minerate! It is the condition of the human heart.”
What is certain as one commenter sarcastically put it, whether it is “72 or 27, PKR is history” while another mocked the significance of “number 72 (feet)”.
At the end of the day, former The Star environmental editor and currently Malaysiakini columnist Andrew Sia summed up best: “It’s an old rule. But dunno [sic] why. If you believe you’ve a Mercedes, why do you fear someone you believe just has a Proton Saga?”
- focus malaysia
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