Manjung Municipal Council will not seize nor auction church land
IT is good news for Sitiawan's Chung Hwa Church of Christ because the Manjung Municipal Council will not seize and auction its property today although it still owes the government RM12,632 in assessment.
State Local Government Committee chairman Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said that the state exco meeting on Wednesday had decided to give the 80-year-old church some time to resolve the problem.
"I have told the council not to go ahead with the seizure tomorrow," he stressed.
Apart from that, Dr Mah said the exco had also allowed the church to convert the status of the land it is sitting on from agriculture to building.
On agriculture land: The Chung Hwa Church of Christ building located in Kampung Koh, Sitiawan still owes the government RM12,632 in assessment.
"The church will be charged a nominal sum of only RM1,000 as premium for the land conversion," Dr Mah, who is also the state's Non-Islamic Affairs Committee chairman, told The Star which had front-paged the impending seizure by the council last Saturday.
It came after Sitiawan assemblyman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham's tweets last Thurday that read – BN Zambry government going to seize and auction off Chung Hwa Church of Christ on Sept 28 for non-payment of RM12,632 (cukai pintu), and, PR government have waived assessment for non-profit organisations including mosques, church and temple. They help government serve the people. What say you Zambry and Mah?
On whether the church would also have its assessment waived, Dr Mah said: "The land conversion process must be completed first, including the church paying up the RM1,000 premium.
"After that, its assessment can be processed as that for a church," he said.
Dr Mah had said last Friday that the Barisan Nasional government would waive the annual assessment of any building as long as it is certified as land for religious purposes.
He added that the then Pakatan Rakyat state government (after the March 8, 2008 general election until Feb 6, 2009) had on July 19, 2008 approved the church's application to change its land status from agriculture to building status.
The church, he said, had been notified a month later to pay an additional premium of RM29,000, adding that it did not pay the premium and it was also charged an annual assessment since then.
"As a result of the non-payment of premium, the church's application to change the land status is considered not approved, meaning that it remains an agriculture land.
"There has been no mention of the case after that," Dr Mah said.
He questioned Ngeh as to why he did not help the church on the matter as he was also the state exco member then.
Ngeh had said non-governmental organisations including mosques, temples and churches during the Pakatan rule enjoyed three benefits – pay a nominal sum of RM1,000 for premium, pay RM40 as quit rent and have its assessment waived.
-The Star-
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