Abolish GST for building of non-Muslim places of worship: Guan Eng

GEORGETOWN: Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng has urged the federal government to abolish the Goods and Services tax (GST) for building projects involving non-Muslim places of worship.
He said the GST should not be charged for the building materials or other services used when places of worship carry out renovation on their existing structures or build new facilities.
Lim told reporters this after handing over a RM50,000 allocation from the state's non-Muslim places of worship trust fund (RIBI), and RM100,000 from the Penang government to the Church of Immaculate Conception in Pulau Tikus for its hall project.
This is the second time the church is receiving funds from the Penang government as in January it was given RM100,000.
Parish Priest Michael Cheah said the completed hall allowed 300 Sunday school children to use it and the church to run more education programes for its congregation.
State RIBI coordination committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo, meanwhile, said there was RM6.06 million in RIBI and non-muslim places of worship which wanted to carry out renovation to their facilities could apply.