25 minutes
PORT KLANG: Mischievous individuals created a stir at a mosque here when they stole a statue of a Chinese deity from a house and left it in the compound of a mosque nearby at Taman Pendamar Indah 1 here on Wednesday.
It is learnt that at 4.15pm on Wednesday, a 63-year-old caretaker of the Surau Sabilul Huda was taken aback when he found a decorated statue of the Chinese demi-god “Datuk Kong” on the concrete railings at the main entrance of the mosque.
The caretaker then called up the leaders and committee members of the mosque.
Klang South police chief ACP Shamsul Amar Ramli said yesterday that the caretaker lodged a police report at midnight to complain the act had desecrated the mosque.
He said this morning, a resident who lives about 50m from the mosque lodged a police report claiming that a Datuk Kong statue he kept in a shrine outside his house compound was missing.
Shamsul said the 50-year-old unemployed man who lives in a rented house with his wife and son said he last saw the statue after he cleaned it and placed a garland on it at 4pm on Wednesday.
He said the shrine was not locked and the estimated price of the statue was RM300.
“Our investigations are ongoing and we are yet to ascertain the motive behind the act. We have classified the case as defiling a place of worship with intent of insult under Section 295 of the Penal Code,“ he said.
Shamsul also said although the incident had initially raised the ire of the mosque worshippers, it was heart-warming to note that they had handled the matter calmly and chose not to blow it out of proportion.
“Residents of multi-races live in the area in peace and harmony and have never had any problems in the past with their places of worship. Hence, they too are puzzled at why this has happened. It is admirable to see how they have resolved this among themselves and have not allowed it to get out of hand. We suspect this could be the work of outsiders,“ Shamsul told theSun.
