I welcome the statement by the Deputy Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Najib Razak yesterday expressing the government’s hope that former Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Chong Kah Kiat will settle the Mazu status issue amicably without going to court.
He said the government is hoping to bring the Mazu statue issue back to the negotiation table instead of going through the court.
I support Najib’s proposal for an amicable settlement of the proposal to build the world’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat.
It is important however for Najib to understand that the principles and issues involved in the Mazu statue controversy do not just concern Chong as one person, but have become a major public issue of national and even international importance involving not just three million Sabahans but also 26 million Malaysians
I am glad that immediately after my visit to Kudat to visit the site of the Mazu statue, there is now the possibility of a new development.
The Mazu statue controversy should not only be resolved at the negotiation table, I will go even one step further and call for a Royal Commission of Inquiry into the mishandling and lack of good governance in all three tiers of local, state and federal government resulting in the Kudat Mazu statue controversy undermining nation-building and inter-religiousl understanding as well as turning Malaysia into an international laughing-stock.
I have just returned from a three-day visit to Kota Kinabalu, Kudat and Sandakan including a 500-km land journey from Kota Kinabalu through Kota Belud to Kudat and onwards to Sandakan through Marudu, with the Kudat-Sandakan journey taking eight hours through some very treacherous stretches (with 25 km of unsealed portion of the Paitan highway after the Nango junction). Continue reading “World’s tallest Mazu statue in Kudat – call for RCI on misgovernance by all 3 tiers of government”