About 30 individuals have failed to honour their pledges to contribute an estimated RM50,000 for the newly built Hindu crematorium in Penang.

According to Penang MIC chairperson and Prai state assemblyperson Dr Rajapathy, they have remained mum on their pledges despite numerous pleas made by the Penang Hindu Endowment Board for the past three years.

"We are appealing again to these people to fulfill their pledges for the crematorium which had been built for the benefit of the Penang Hindu community," said Rajapathy who is also chairperson of the board.

These errant people, mainly prominent businessmen, made their pledges when the board was passing its hat around the state over the past three years to build the RM1.2 million crematorium, which houses two gas-fuelled incinerators.

Several donors, who spoke on condition of anonymity, blasted the individuals for making empty promises "merely for the sake of publicity".

"The crematorium is for the Hindu community. These people should be ashamed of themselves for not keeping their promises after making so much money from the community," they lashed out.

Under construction for two years, the crematorium situated at the Jalan Batu Lanchang Hindu cemetery was officially opened last week.

Rajapathy thanked the state government, Penang Island Municipal Council (MPPP), the board commissioners, MIC branches, non-government organisations and the public for their financial contributions and support to the project. The MPPP also allotted RM400,000 for the crematorium.

The biggest donor among MIC branches was Taman Hye Keat MIC branch with RM5,000.

A long-awaited project

The crematorium, which has been operational for the past two months, was happily welcomed by the 150,000 Hindu population in the state. For years, cremation was carried out using wood at the cemetery's old crematorium.

Several Hindus also opted to cremate bodies at incinerators in Chinese cemeteries in Jalan Batu Gantong and Mount Erskine.

"Although the crematorium was built to fulfill Hindu needs, it can also be used by non-Hindus as well," said Rajapathy.

Besides two furnaces, the crematorium has parlours and refrigeration facilities. Of the two incinerators, one costs RM100, 000 and the other RM400,000.

The public will be charged RM450 to cremate a body and another RM80 per day if they want to keep a body refrigerated.

"The fees include usage of parlours for religious rites," said Rajapathy.

With the completion of the crematorium, the board now plans to upgrade the roads and parking facilities at the cemetery.

This means another round of public donation campaign because the state normally does not fund the entire project although the board is a statutory body.

A Veeranggan is malaysiakini's Penang-based stringer.