THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE NEW GURDWARA SAHIB BUTTERWORTH

SPEECH BY CHIEF MINISTER OF PENANG

AT THE OPENING CEREMONY OF THE NEW GURDWARA SAHIB BUTTERWORTH

21 January 2019
Gurdwara Sahib Butterworth, Lot 5702, Mukim 1, Jalan Todak, Seberang Jaya

 

YB JAGDEEP SINGH DEO
State EXCO for Housing, Local Government and Town & Country Planning

YB DR. AFIF BIN BAHARDIN
State EXCO for Health, Agriculture & Agro-Based Industry and Rural Development

YB DR. AMAR PRITIPAL BIN ABDULLAH
Deputy Speaker of Penang State Assembly

YB SATEES MUNIANDY
ADUN for Bagan Dalam

MR NARINDER SINGH
President, Management Committee Gurdwara Sahib Butterworth

MR JAGJIT SINGH
Chairman, Trustees Committee and New Gurdwara Sahib Building Committee

Good afternoon to all of you.

No words can describe how honoured I am to be here this afternoon for the opening ceremony of the new Gurdwara Sahib Butterworth which is made possible due to the tireless effort of its management committee, trustees and devotees.

Good job and well done as I applaud your commitment and single-mindedness towards a worthy cause which means a lot to the Sikh community not only in Penang but perhaps even the northern region of Malaysia. It is precisely this very same single-mindedness, a very rare virtue these days, that has enabled many outstanding members of the Sikh community to excel in various fields and to shine like a Beacon of Pride across the nation due to your outstanding and immense contributions despite being a minority.

This new Gurdwara in the RIBI enclave of Seberang Jaya is the result of your resilience coupled with the single-mindedness towards the completion of any given task.

You are resilient towards challenging circumstances, you are resilient towards the changes happening around us everyday and you are all resilient towards the daunting task of building and completing this Gurdwara we have today in only 4 years despite owning the land for more than 3 decades.

On a final note, as Gurdwara Sahib Butterworth makes its presence among the different houses of worship in this RIBI enclave, let us all work towards closer cohesion and unity in spite of our different faiths because I always believe that proximity fosters greater affinity in any given circumstances. As Malaysians in a multicultural country of different faiths, we might pray in our respective methods or adopt ritual practices that might differ from our neighbours but what bind us all as one despite our differences, is the love we have in common for Malaysia.

Thank you.