VIDEO l 0.42 min

The chief high priest of the Buddhist Maha Vihara temple has apologised to all Muslims on behalf of a Buddhist group from Singapore that held a meditation session at a surau in Kota Tinggi, Johor.

Referring to a recent video clip depicting the group meditating in a surau at a resort, chief high priest K Sri Dhammaratana Nayake Maha Thera said Buddhists must respect religious sensitivities of others in performing their own religious obligations.

"All Buddhists must at all times be conscious and aware of the fundamental principles expounded by Lord Buddha: It is impossible to build one’s own happiness on the unhappiness of others," he said.

The 63 second clip , titled 'Chinese Buddhists pray in surau; Surau becomes temple', depicted a dozen people meditating in a surau. The opening scene bore the caption: "Surau tainted by heresy". It was uploaded by a Youtube user called Sebastianphiu .

It is understood that the group follows the same teachings as that of the Buddhist Maha Vihara temple, located in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur.

The Johor Islamic Affairs Council is investigating the matter while the police have remanded the owner of the resort to facilitate investigations under Section 295 of the Penal Code, which deals with the defilement of a place of worship.

Previously, a spokesperson from the resort had explained that the Buddhist group was allowed to use the surau for meditation due to space constraints.

"So we allowed them to use the surau in the resort but their bringing other religious items into the surau was done without my knowledge," he said.

Rep: Don't use surau

Meanwhile, Young Buddhist Association of Malaysia’s president Goh Qing Song expressed regret that such an incident had happened following the recent controversies involving religious sensitivities.

“The Singaporeans (who came to meditate) weren’t aware of the sensitivities of religious issues in Malaysia, and so I don’t blame them,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted today.

“But I don’t understand why they had to use the surau to conduct these activities,” Goh added.

When asked if meditating in a surau was acceptable in a Malaysian context, Goh replied: “(A) big no”.

“It’s very disrespectful to our Muslim friends. There are other places of worship for Buddhists to perform their prayers, but it is not in a surau,” he explained.

Even if it had been the 45-year old resort owner’s goodwill to promote mutual understanding between Buddhism and Islam, Goh said the owner should not have encroached the boundaries of Islam by doing something unacceptable.

“I hope the authorities will understand (the owner’s) intentions behind his action, and that they consider the fact that he did not mean to purposely violate the Islamic laws,” Goh said.