Plans to relocate a church from the town area of Kajang to a new housing project in suburban Taman Bukit Mewah has met with objections from the local Muslim residents.

More than 1,000 Muslims from Phase 8A of the project are said to have signed a petition opposing the relocation and registered their protest in a memorandum to the Kajang Municipal Council (MPK) Wednesday.

Resident Osman Suboh, an organiser of the petition, said the objections were not meant to curtail anybody's freedom to religious worship and cited fears of "traffic congestion during weekly congregations, among other inconveniences," as the source of their protests.

Osman did, however, question the relocation of a Christian place of worship in an area that was occupied predominantly by Malay Muslims.

"On one side of the plot of land proposed to house the church, there are terrace houses belonging to Muslims. On another side, the block of flats are occupied predominantly by Muslims," he said when contacted.

"In this particular area, Muslims are no less than 60% of the population of around 4,000 people. Why couldn't the church be placed somewhere else, such as the other side of Bukit Mewah where they are predominantly Christians?" he added.

"They have to consider the religious sensitivities of the Muslims," he stressed.

'21 days to file objections'

Although disputing Osman's estimate of the composition of residents, MPK president Muhd Khusrin Munawi assured that all objections that have been properly channeled to the council would be considered before deciding to approve the relocation to Bukit Mewah.

"I don't think there is a large majority of Malays. It may be a 50-50 situation, as there are a lot of Chinese and Indians there as well. We need to get the exact composition before assuming anything," he said.

He added that concerns of any future traffic woes from church activities would have to be verified by the relevant authorities.

Khusrin also explained that the plot of land in Bukit Mewah proposed to house the church originally contained a bungalow that was owned by Serba Sentosa Sdn Bhd.

As Serba Sentosa had been appointed to develop the area currently housing the church for commercial purposes, the company has asked the church to relocate to the plot of land that it owns in Bukit Mewah, he added.

"In order to change the status of the Bukit Mewah plot from residential to that of place of worship, however, they have to get feedback from the public to determine if there are any objections to it. That's why we posted a signboard and have given 21 days for objections from the public to be forwarded to MPK," he said.

"Whatever it is, I have asked the residents to file their objections officially. We will call on residents only from the area concerned to present their objections. We do not entertain objections from residents of other areas," said Khusrin.

"In the meantime, we will get technical input from the relevant bodies, such as the Public Works Department as well as the Fire Department, before setting up a committee to hear the residents' objections. It might take about three months before any decision is made," he added.