Religion is always a sensitive issue in many parts of the world. People can be offended if their religion or place of worship is disparaged. However, it would be ideal if common sense would prevail among believers not to build places of worship on land not gazetted for this purpose. Centuries ago, this could be done but in the present day, we should live with the law of the land.

If illegally-built places of worship are allowed to flourish all over the country, this would only encourage others to come up with more icons. It would also lead to an uncontrollable situation and more misunderstandings between people of different religions. It is thus wise for people to be sensible enough to accept the rule of law.

If there is merit for places of worship for any community, it is the onus of the elected government to allow them to do so and provide them with legitimate places or lands to build their religious icons in a legal manner. Belief in

God is one of the Rukun Negara principles. Nobody should be denied the right to perform their religious obligations, but not at the expense of law and order.

It is impractical to build too many places of worship to serve a small group of worshipers. Smaller places of worship should be merged and built on private or government-sanctioned land, with discretion. The elected government should have the conscientiousness to honour the requests if it deserves to be considered.

There has to be an amicable solution to the issue of demolishing places of worship and building these structures on non-permitted lands. Religion has always been a sensitive issue in most countries. In our country, it has become more a political issue. Peaceloving Malaysians do not want to rock the boat. We have experienced peace and religious tolerance for the past 50 years and we hope to see the same in the future.

Worshipers have to be informed to not build their places of worship on unauthorised land, such as those edging playgrounds and on roadsides, as this can be distasteful to others. The authority, in good faith, has to halt this prohibited act the moment it sees any illegal structures on unapproved sites.

It is only when the icon is allowed to be completed that the problem arises. Even if a religious icon has been erected on non-permitted land for many years, that does not justify its right to remain, unless the government decides to gazette the place as a historical site.

Prevention is always a better approach in resolving the mle. The authorities should act immediately and appropriately before people's tempers snowball. If left ignored, defiant groups would show disregard for order resulting in needless commotions. There will always be elements out there ready to incite the uninformed to further aggravate the situation. This is detrimental to the society.

Places of worship in this country have attracted so many foreign tourists and this has generated so much income for the nation. Perhaps, a fraction of this income could be used to acquire lands and to subsidise the building and enhancement of places of worship in the country.