The Sabah and Labuan Federal Territory Hainan Association will apply for a piece of land from the State Government to build a big-scale Tien Hou or Mazu Temple. The decision was made during the third meeting of the association’s 13th Executive Committee, here, Sunday.
According to President, John Lim Yu Sin, the association planned to apply for State land and is now looking for a suitable site. In the event they need to purchase the land, the expenses would be shared among the association’s seven affiliate members.
Lim, who is also Kota Kinabalu Hainan Association Chairman, said in a statement that the Kota Kinabalu Hainan Association has a Mazu temple on the fifth floor of its office but the premises is scheduled for renovation.
The renovation sub-committee decided to hand over the planning for the big-scale project to the parent association.
He said more than 80 per cent of the Hainanese clans are Mazu believers with seven of the member associations from Sabah and Labuan having their own Mazu temple.
The largest Mazu temple in Malaysia is in Kuala Lumpur, managed by the Kuala Lumpur and Selangor Hainan Association.
He added that the number of Mazu believers was increasing in view of the increasing population, hence the need to build a larger Mazu temple in Sabah.
Lim believed once the project materialised in Sabah it would strengthen the Hainanese clans, which in turn would strengthen the Hainan associations throughout the nation.
In this respect, he said a committee headed by himself had been set up with all the six chairmen of the member associations appointed as deputy heads to look into the project.
Secretary Wong Ka Hung was appointed as secretary with Lai Tuck Seong and Lee Man Keong as committee member. Sandakan Hainan Association Chairman Datuk John Lim Shau Ket hoped the project would materialise as soon as possible.
His Tawau counterpart, Wong Gi Ming, also corrected the wrong perception among the public that the Mazu temple was only for the Hainanese because it was also being patronised by other clans as well.
He said in the South East Asia region, including Malaysia, Mazu temples are managed and undertaken by Hainan Associations but once the temple (here) is completed it would be opened to all.
Kudat Hainan Association Chairman Soon Kah Khiam believed the project would benefit the member associations, in particular, smaller associations in terms of economics.
Similarly, Labuan Federal Territory Hainan Association Foo Shiang Tat assured a positive involvement from Labuan in the project.
Also discussed was the Hainanese Night, which would be held on Dec 6 in conjunction with the Sabah and Labuan Hainan Association’s 81st anniversary dinner.
Voon Lee Shan is morally corrupt!
One of the few remaining mission schools in Sarawak, St Martin primary school in Muara Tuang, will likely shut down for good. Last November, it was sent an eviction notice from the five-hectare plot of land it occupies.
State Education Director Dr Julaihi Bujang said the 313 pupils in the largely Iban village have been transferred to Sekolah Kebangsaan Muara Tuang, SK Barangan and few other schools in the nearby the Semarahan district.
The trouble started last April, when the landowner Millah Kitat, through her legal counsel Voon Lee Shan, issued a letter giving the Anglican mission that runs the school an ultimatum: Buy the whole 12ha parcel of land on which the school stands or move out within a week.
Millah owns the land under Native Customary Rights (NCR).
When the school failed to move out within the deadline Voon, the DAP state assemblyman for Batu Lintang, served another legal letter demanding RM700,000 compensation within a week, claiming the school had trespassed on Millah’s land.
To avoid further legal complications, the state Education Department ordered the school shut.
“The previous land owner Lian Teetat Emparu had divided the land for the Anglican mission to build the school but it was not legalised,” said Julaihi.
“There were some agreements drawn up by the late Emparu. The ‘agreement’ stated that the land would be ‘free of charge’, and the heir or heirs would not develop that portion of land alienated for the school,” he said.
Since the agreement was not legalised, it became a point of dispute with Millah, Emparu’s daughter, who inherited the land when he died.
“The legal summons issued to us is still on going. The landowner and her legal counsel did not give us much time to negotiate, and there is no way the education department of the mission can come up with the RM700,000 within seven days of the issuance of the letter, dated October 23, 3007,” Julaihi said.
The state Education Department, meanwhile, has identified a piece of land near the old school and they have proposed to purchase it.
Julaihi said they are still waiting for the Education Ministry’s approval, and this will take some time.
“It will take some time to pay the compensation demanded by the landowner, and it will definitely take more time to purchase land and build a school,” he said.