Muslims want spotlights installed at cemetery to facilitate night burial
MIRI: Miri Malay Charitable Trust Board ( LAKMM) and the relevant local authority here have been urged to install spotlights at Sungai Baong Muslim cemetery to facilitate night burial.
According to a Kampung Wireless Miri resident Ayah Makmon Bol, all these years Muslims face difficulties in carrying out burial at night due to lack of proper lighting at the cemetery.
“We want LAKMM and the relevant local authority to install spotlights at strategic locations on both sides of Sungai Baong Muslim cemetery to brighten up the area, “Ayah Makmon told The Borneo Post when carrying out the burial ceremony for the late Lawas CID chief Raduwan Narawi on Wednesday night.
According to him, there were many cases of Muslims from Miri who passed away in other divisions or other places with their bodies reaching here at night and the burial ceremony had to be carried out on the same night.
He proposed LAKMM to be the welfare body to take care of the Muslim cemetery and the relevant local authority to install spotlights at the burial ground. “Why can’t the local authority install spotlights like those at parks and recreational area,” he asked.
Meanwhile a Muslim NGO committee member Mohd Shihabuddin agreed with Ayah Makmon and said that it’s a pity that some time family members had to borrow a generator set or even used torch lights when they buried their loved ones at night.
He called on the relevant bodies and their committees to learn how other Muslim cemeteries were being taken care of and not just engage a caretaker to look after the burial grounds without having other facilities such as lightings and even tap water.
He even suggested bodies such as Sarawak Energy and the relevant water board here assist through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programme.
Mohd Shihabuddin further said if they cannot install permanent spotlights, they can also consider providing a mobile lighting system to facilitate night burial.