GEORGE TOWN (April 26, 2010): The Penang government does not agree with a Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP) plan to “recycle” burial lots in non-Muslim cemeteries to overcome the shortage of space.

Penang local government committee chairman Chow Kon Yeow said today the idea to exhume the remains of deceased individuals after a period of time needed to be reconsidered as it was a sensitive matter.

He said burial plots that are old needed to be exempted from such a move, while new plots needed to be governed by proper guidelines on matters such as exhumation and safe-keeping in a columbarium.

Chow said the MPPP is tabling a new by-law to govern a Christian cemetery here in a test case to help tackle the scarcity of land for burial grounds on the island. There is no law now to govern cemeteries in the state.

He said the by-law for the 200-year old Western Road cemetery is deemed necessary as lack of space has caused new burial lots to be placed in a disorderly way.

“There is generally a lack of Christian burial grounds in Penang. The community does not even have a funeral parlour to serve their needs,” he said.

Chow expressed the hope that the by-law would help provide proper governance mechanism that could be used for other cemeteries in the future.

He also said a special committee has been formed under the MPPP to look into how land allocated for non-Muslim places of worship in new development areas could be utilised.

The committee, led by state housing committee chairman Wong Hon Wai, is looking into the drafting of guidelines on the matter.

“Currently, developers are required to set aside land for non-Muslim places of worship but there are no guidelines on how the land should be developed,” Chow said.

Earlier, Chow attended a a state government luncheon for representatives of Christian churches at the Caring Society Complex here. Present were Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, Speaker Datuk Abdul Halim Husin and executive councillor Abdul Malik Abul Kassim.

The guests included Catholic Bishop of Anthony Selvanayagam, Penang Anglican Churches bishop Andrew Phang, and Christian Federation of Malaysia chairman Ng Moon Hin, who is also Lord Bishop of Anglican Churches of Malaysia.

Abdul Malik said the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) state government would consider a request from Selvanayagam to include churches in the state’s voter registration exercise in May.

Selvanayagam had said there were many parishioners who had not registered yet, and invited PR to conduct registration on church premises.

Malik said he would follow-up on the matter to organise registration programmes on Sundays when parishioners attend church services. — theSun

Updated: 08:34PM Mon, 26 Apr 2010
by Himanshu Bhatt
http://www.sun2surf.com/article.cfm?id=46023