Mosque will defend land, says Penang mufti over LRT route

The cemetery at the Sungai Nibong Besar Mosque in Penang.

GEORGE TOWN: The Penang mufti today hoped the issue of the proposed Light Rail Transit (LRT) running across a Muslim cemetery has been put to rest after authorities said the line would not cut into the burial ground as claimed by a group.

Wan Salim Wan Mohd Noor assured all concerned that the fatwa committee, which he chairs, would fend off any effort to change the status of the land, currently classified as wakaf land.

Over the past few weeks, a group had raised concern over the fate of the Sungai Nibong Besar Mosque and its cemetery after reports that the LRT builders would build the elevated tracks on the front portion of the mosque.

Early drawings also showed the line would cross a small portion of the cemetery.

The Penang government has given an assurance it “would not touch an inch” of the mosque or the cemetery, but said the burial ground appeared to have been extended 2.5m into a government reserve.

Wan Salim told FMT the government should exercise its discretion in this case although it had the right to repossess whatever land belonging to it.

“The government may exercise discretion, especially when making a decision that could affect the sensitivities of the community, as it involves a mosque and a cemetery.

“Whatever decision that is taken in this issue, it has to be consulted with all stakeholders and must be decided together or based on a majority voice.

“I believe the government would not take over the land wantonly unless it is deliberated from various aspects and taking into account the views from various stakeholders.”

A group calling itself the Sungai Nibong Besar Mosque Action Committee had said “nearly 600 bodies” would have to be exhumed if the proposed LRT line ate into the cemetery.

A spokesman for the committee said the encroachment into government reserve land remained legal under state Muslim law since it was cemetery land.

The committee said the LRT alignment was supposed to veer behind the mosque and the adjacent cemetery but was “suddenly changed” after the mosque was torn down recently to be rebuilt.

It said the LRT builders told the mosque committee in February the route would instead take a straight path along Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah and cut into the cemetery as well.

The committee held protests after Friday prayers outside Komtar for two consecutive weeks, demanding that the alignment be changed.

The Penang government then said the line would not touch the mosque or cemetery land or its airspace.

It said the alignment would now run parallel with Jalan Sultan Azlan Shah, fronting the mosque.

The proposed 30km Bayan Lepas LRT line will have 27 stations, running from Komtar to the three reclaimed islands planned in the south. - FMT