Penampang: Taoists in the State have been advised to stop dumping deities' figurines or ancestral plaques indiscriminately if they no longer wished to worship them, but send them to the nearest Taoist temples.

President of the Federation of Sabah Taoism Association (Sabah Tao Lien), Wong Kak Leong said this after taking part in a 'gotong-royong' together with the Penampang District Council (PDC) to demolish the ad hoc Taoist shrine at Jalan Shantung-Penampang Lama, here.

The exercise was carried out at 9am, following a ceremony presided by a few Taoist masters to first seek the consent of the spirits there.

Set up by unknown individuals more than eight years ago, the said shrine besides becoming a popular site for '4-digit' punters to seek fortune from the spirits there, had also become a 'dumping ground' for statues of Taoist deities and ancestral plaques, when their worshipers converted to other faiths.

Some desperate '4-digit' punters have even gone there to conduct their ritual in the middle of the night.

Wong noted that the indiscriminate dumping of Taoist deities' statues and ancestral plaques was against Taoism practice and must be stopped immediately.

"Such an indiscriminate act is deemed grossly disrespectful as well as ungrateful towards the deities and one's ancestors."

He also explained that Sabah Tao Lien decided to take the initiative to thoroughly clean up the place Monday after the matter was raised at the final leg of its Statewide dialogue with the various Taoist temples, held at the Nam Tien Kong Temple in Inanam on Aug. 28.

Prior to this, the Federation and the PDC received numerous complaints from the public over the controversial shrine and the series of strange activities that it had attracted.

This was also the second time that the Federation had acted on the said shrine. The first clean-up was carried out about one year ago.

"Prior to 'cleaning up' the place they sought the consent of the spirits there who were said to have given them the nod to proceed with such action.

A Daily Express report on the shrine recently saw the public urging the Penampang Council to act against those who erect places of worship anywhere they liked, including at lay-bys and road reserves.

They said it was bounden on the Council, being the local authority, to ensure that rules were followed in allowing places of worship.

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on Daily Express