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http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/20070513073908/Article/index_html
KOTA KINABALU: Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat has made a fresh appeal to Chief Minister Datuk Seri Musa Aman to allow the construction of the Ma Tzu or “goddess of the sea” statue at Kudat.
“It is our hope that the chief minister will allow us to complete the Ma Tzu,” said Chong, who is chairman of the Kudat Thean How Foundation which is building the statue.
Chong, who is the Tanjung Kapur assemblyman, quit as deputy chief minister last month, citing the halting of the project as the last straw for his decision.
“What is so wrong with the present Ma Tzu location when it is at least 600 metres away from the Kudat district mosque?” he asked, citing a pagoda in Tuaran which is only 300 metres from the district mosque.
He claimed his idea would show that Malaysians could co-exist despite the diverse ethnic and religious differences, without suspicion. “If we disallow other religious structures within a particular neighbourhood, it can result in segregation rather than integration and that will be unhealthy.
“If the construction of the Ma Tzu is improper and against any religion, then I must not be compensated but action should be taken against me,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
The 27-metre statue, specially ordered from China, was about to be assembled when the project was halted.
