Resort owner remanded over 'Buddhist meditation in surau'

The 45-year-old owner of a resort in Johor where a group of Buddhists were shown meditating in a surau has been remanded for four days.

According to The Star Online, he was brought to the Session's Court in Kota Tinggi at about 9.30am today before court registrar Hairul Azhar Mohamad, who approved the remand order until Friday.

The owner of the resort in Tanjung Sedili Besar, who is a Singaporean with Malaysian permanent resident status, was arrested on Sunday.

The case is being investigated under Section 295 of the Penal Code for injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class.
                                      
Previously, the Johor Islamic Affairs Council (MAIJ) had urged that stern action be taken.

"We need to be more stern by using existing laws to blacklist the group from entering the country. This should not happen as they should know Malaysian law.

"Their act has not only hurt the feelings (of Muslims) but also insulted Islam," said MAIJ adviser Noh Gadut.

He was referring to a YouTube video uploaded on Aug 10 which showed what appeared to be a monk inside the surau, leading a group in meditation in front of a portrait of Buddha.
              
The 63-second video entitled: 'Chinese Buddhists pray in surau; surau becomes temple' was uploaded by one "Sebastianphiu" and has generated over 10,000 views.

Meanwhile, the resort owner had earlier defended the decision to allow the Buddhist group from Singapore to use the surau.

"The group said they wanted to use the hall for meditation but we could not fulfill the request as the hall had already been booked by others earlier on.

"So we allowed them to use the surau in the resort but their bringing other religious items into the surau was done without my knowledge," he was quoted as saying.