Muslims offer Ramadan prayers at the Kowloon Mosque in Tsim Sha Tsui in May last year. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

The growing Muslim community is underserved in its needs for a place of worship, learning and social care. The government should not take back the land set aside for a planned mosque and home for the elderly
Muslims from different racial backgrounds have been a part of Hong Kong since the mid-19th century. Many read, write and speak fluent Cantonese and have lived and worked here for several generations.
Originally migrants from mainland China, the Indian subcontinent, as well as Southeast Asia, many of them have brought up their children here who now serve the city as teachers, doctors, lawyers, police and firefighters, as well as within the Correctional Services Department and other civil service bodies.
Yet, Muslims have struggled to secure a place of worship. Not a single mosque has been built in Hong Kong since well before the 1997 handover, 23 years ago.
Worse still, on September 17, the Lands Department of Hong Kong will repossess a plot of land in Sheung Shui where an elderly care home and mosque is planned to be built, given the departments dissatisfaction with the pace of the project.Never mind how none of surrounding plots in the Sheung Shui area has been developed, nor how the planned home for the elderly, which accounts for 70 per cent of the overall project, is an entirely social enterprise with zero profit incentives and would serve an urgent need for the fast-growing ageing population of the city, especially in Sheung Shui.
The loss of land is also a major blow to the growing number of Muslims in the surrounding areas, who remain underserved in their needs for a place of worship, learning, social care and community services.Over the last decade, a committee staffed by a small group of unpaid volunteers at the United Muslim Association of Hong Kong (Umah) overseeing the project has had to overcome challenges including fraudulent legal suits, funding freeze and delays, as well as severe work-related disruptions from the 2019 protests, made worse due to the ongoing epidemic.
To repossess the land now that hoarding work has already begun and construction tenders are to be announced in a matter of weeks is myopic on the part of the government, not to mention unfair and deeply disappointing to the 300,000-strong Muslim community of Hong Kong, across all economic strata of the citys multicultural society.
We, therefore, urge the Hong Kong government to please reconsider its decision and come to an amicable solution for all, by reaffirming the inclusion of the needs of the Hong Kong Muslim community as a valued part of Hong Kong.
Yusuf Yu, council member, United Muslim Association of Hong Kong (Umah); chairman, action committee, Sheung Shui Mosque Project

Article Source : https://www.scmp.com/comment/letters/article/3101751/why-hong-kong-muslims-need-mosque-sheung-shui