YBAM appeals to the government to distribute fairly allocation for places of worship

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From the data released by the federal government recently, out of RM440,000,000 allocated by the government between year 2005 and 2008 for places of worship, less than 2% of the funds were distributed to non-muslim place of worship. Furthermore, according to the statistics in 2008, Chinese temples are the only religious places of worship that have not received any funds from the government. Measured against the number of devotees, the figure data are totally out of proportion.

The Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia (YBAM) respects the constitution that Islam is the official religion of the country and other religions are protected are protected by the constitution to enjoy religious freedom. Places of worship are important to devotee spiritually. Hence, it is important that these places receive funding from the government for their establishment and construction, apart from donation from devotees and the public.

YBAM thus urges the government to fairly distribute the funds to the various places of worship, encourage Malaysian citizens to have a religious belief so as to achieve a harmonious society. YBAM also urges Malaysian Buddhist organizations to actively apply for the funds provided by the government with a view to propagating the Dharma more widely and effectively.

After striving for 18 years, the Puzhao Buddhist Vihara in Kluang, Johor obtained the conditional approval from the local government to restart construction. The construction cost is currently estimated to be RM3.8 million. YBAM hopes the government and local officials in their allocations will provide positive assistance to the Puzhao Buddhist Vihara.

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