A mosque helper carries out some maintenance work on the Tanjung Bungah floating mosque in George Town February 12, 2014. — Picture by K.E. Ooi

GEORGE TOWN, Oct 3 — Claiming a deferral, the women’s wing of Penang Umno today demanded the Pakatan Harapan (PH) state government explain the delay in the upgrade and building of nine approved Islamic projects.

Penang Umno Wanita chief Datuk Norliza Abd Rahim said the projects that include upgrades to mosques, surau, Kelas Al-Quran dan Fardu Ain (KAFA) and Islamic religious schools in the state had been approved by the former Barisan Nasional federal government under a special allocation.

“These projects for Muslims have now been deferred,” she claimed in a statement.

She demanded that the government explain the status of these projects, and whether they were cancelled or would be implemented later.

She called on the Penang Islamic Religious Affairs Council to be more aggressive in pushing for the projects to be implemented.

Norliza then referred to a recent statement by PAS alleging Putrajaya had deferred over 4,000 public projects in the country.

“Deferring public projects that were previously approved is a betrayal of the people’s trust,” she said.

She questioned the PH government’s commitment to defend Islam as the official religion of the country, saying the delay showed it could not meet its electoral promises nor did it have the willpower to carry out projects that were for public benefit.