‘Proposed temple in K Penyu to attract tourists’
Kuala Penyu: The proposed construction of the Wong Tai Sin Temple here is to attract foreign tourists to Sabah, said Kuala Penyu Assemblyman Datuk Limus Jury.
He clarified that the proposed construction of a third temple outside of Hong Kong after Macau and Vancouver was not for other purpose as spread in social media.
“My recent statement on the proposed construction of the Wong Tai Sin Temple posed a bit of confusion in certain quarters and a handful of people.
“The proposed project is to attract foreign tourists from all over the world to Sabah, especially Kuala Penyu, as the public know that such temple has a significant impact on Buddhism.
“On the contrary, we need to be grateful that Kuala Penyu is lucky to be selected as the third location of Tong Wong Tai Sin in the world, apart from the one in Hong Kong as its centre or main base.
“In fact, I have informed Chief Minister Tan Sri Musa Aman and Minister of Special Tasks Datuk Teo Chee Kang at a briefing and site visit by delegations from Hong Kong,” he said.
According to him, the effort to bring the project to the district is to make it one of the major tourist destinations in the State.
“We bring this project as a way and opportunity to transform the development landscape of this district into a tourist destination.
“This is because it not only generates income in terms of tourism but also will change the district’s sleeping town status for a long time due to the absence of prominent economic activities,” he said.
When the project is implemented, the youths will get a portion of economic pie and they do not need to go to cities to find jobs, said Limus.
More importantly, he said, the proceeds from the construction of the temple would be channelled back to the welfare of the needy community regardless of race and religion.
He noted that in Hong Kong, the temple has brought many benefits to the community as it has 17 schools and seven hospitals built from the collections of more than 300 million Hong Kong dollar a year.
Limus said the matter had been thoroughly refined and studied before deciding to proceed.
Hence, he requested the State Government to provide funds or grant to realise the construction of the project.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 17th Menumbok Fishermen Festival and CTC Mobile programme (Mobile Community Transformation Centre) at Mempakul Beach, near here.
Sources : Daily Express
