Resting place: An artist’s impression of the public recreational park which will also have space to bury cremated ashes.
KLANG: Non-Muslim Selangor residents will soon have the opportunity to bury the ashes of their loved ones in a beautiful garden surrounded by lush greenery and colourful flowers.
Selangor senior exco member Datuk Teng Chang Khim said plans are underway to create a seven-acre garden in an area that had been identified along the old Jalan Sungai Buloh.
“Out of the seven acres, two acres will be allocated for the burial of ashes but there won’t be any markers or tombstones.
“The ashes will be buried in an unmarked lawn,’’ said Teng when contacted.
He said the special committee for Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism had met on May 15 and agreed to the idea.
Teng said the plan would be brought to the state’s executive council before endorsement is given for work to be carried out.
He said the concept would be to develop the area into a public park which will come with a lake as well as walking and jogging tracks.
“A small part of the park will be used to bury the ashes,’’ he said.
He said this concept was sustainable as it was environment friendly and not very costly.
Teng said as Selangor is rapidly growing, it is anticipated that there would be a lack of space for new burial grounds.
“Some of the housing developments in recent years have complied with the requirement that Muslim and non-Muslim burial ground be included in their projects, and because of this, we can identify land for this project,’’ he said.
The two-acre land can take up to 87,000 ash burials and it is expected to take decades before the place is full.
Teng said after a few years, the buried ashes would have been integrated with the soil or washed away underground and hence the land could be recycled for more burials.
