Senior Selangor state executive councillor Teng Chang Khim has apologised and offered to resign over the uproar against the state's manual guideline and planning standard restricting non-Muslim places of worship.

Teng said he would ask the state executive council meeting on Wednesday to postpone the matter.

At a press conference held in his office in Shah Alam today, Teng said he had detected the error before and ordered the related officers to amend it.

"The report I received later said it was amended. Based on the report, I didn't double-check. I had believed that the requested amendment on non-Muslim places of worship had been reviewed.

"As such, I apologise for the mistake of not double-checking the manual before it was tabled to the state executive council...

"I admit the mistake and take full responsibility. If you think I made a mistake that warrants my resignation, I will resign, if it is so serious," Teng added.

Guideline not limited to non-Muslim places

He also explained that prior to the submission of the guideline to the state executive council for its approval in late September last year, he and his assistant spotted the error.

He showed reporters the guideline, which contained the part highlighted and labelled as ‘error’.

The guideline, he added, was to provide developers guidance on mosques, affordable housing and roads and was not limited to non-Muslim places of worship.

Teng reiterated that the state government enjoyed a cordial relationship with non-Muslim places of worship, having provided an annual grant of RM3 million from 2009 to 2014. The allocation was incresed to RM6 million since 2015 till now.

Land matters for a total of 252 non-Muslim places of worship, comprising 112 Chinese temples, 105 Hindu temples, 27 churches and eight gurdwara were approved, he said.

“It is regrettable that some people have criticised state government on discrimination against non-Islam religions.”

According to Nanyang Siang Pau, the Selangor Manual Guideline and Selangor State Planning Standard was discovered to contain the recommendation that non-Muslim places of worship should not be built within 50 metres of a home owned by Muslims and that planned new non-Muslim places of worship in areas with a multiracial make-up would require the consent of residents within a 200-metre radius.

Other recommendations include a height restriction that new non-Muslim places of worship must be lower than the nearest mosque, and that new non-Muslim places of worship cannot be built in commercial areas.

The controversial move was criticised as discriminating non-Islamic religions.