KOTA SAMARAHAN: Surau Darul Ikhlas at Kampung Naie Baru here is now better and safer. Its former location was dangerous and the structure stood on poor ground.
Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister, Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah, who is also Youth and Sports Minister, revealed that the old surau was too close to some overhead electricity cables and poles.
“That was very dangerous, so we rebuilt the surau some distance from the poles but still on the same piece of land,” he said in his speech during the opening of the surau, yesterday.
He hoped the new surau could promote unity in the community.
“I hope that one day the surau would be upgraded to a mosque so that it can be used for Friday prayers. As a mosque, its management would be better,” he said.
Kota Samarahan Member of Parliament (MP) Rubiah Wang, who also spoke at the function, said the surau was completed last December but was just officially opened yesterday.
According to her the cost of building the surau, which can accommodate about 80 to 100 worshippers at a time, was RM407,000. It was approved under a special budget of former Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in 2015.
“Make full use of the surau facility not just for religious purposes but also to enhance the development of our village,” she said.
Abdul Karim, who also contributed RM10,000 to the surau from his Minor Rural Project (MRP) fund, presented donations to ten needy persons in Kampung Naie Baru.
Also present at the opening ceremony were Samarahan Resident Brahim Lumpu, Samarahan District Deputy Officer Jerry Zannuddin Bidin, Samarahan Division engineer (JKR) Siti Fairuz Othman, Samarahan Division Malay Temenggong Chek Bujang and headman of Kampung Naie Baru Mahmudin Kadir.
