Sabah Umno chief Bung Moktar Radin rubbished claims that the statue would affect Muslim sensitivities, saying the matter should be looked at from a broader perspective.

“The statue does not interfere with Muslims’ devotion to worship or hurt religious sensitivities, let alone affect their faith.

“It was also understood that the developer of the project would construct the Mazu statue without blocking the view of the existing district mosque,” he said, according to the Daily Express.

He also cited several states in the country which have erected statues of different faiths, including Kelantan and Penang. “The lives of the Muslim community there have not been affected,” he said.

The Kinabatangan MP said he was confident that the 33m-high statue would change the face of Kudat, becoming an icon for the northern district and the focus of international tourists.

“After completion this Mazu statue, which will be the tallest in the world, will be another tourist attraction in Kudat after the ‘Tip of Borneo’ (the northernmost tip of Borneo).

“In China, millions of tourists come just to see the Quan Yin statue. So it is not impossible that Sabah will also receive a large number of tourists from abroad every year,” he said.

The project to build the Mazu statue was proposed in 2005 and was to be built on private land facing the sea, at a cost of RM5 million.

However, in 2006, a stop work order was issued based on objections by the Muslim community, on the grounds that the site was too near the town mosque, more than 700m away.

About six weeks later, the state mufti was believed to have issued a fatwa addressed to then Sabah chief minister Musa Aman, specifically directing that the construction work on the statue be stopped for being contrary to Islamic teachings.

In 2011, Musa offered a new site for the project in Pantai Bak Bak. Some 408 carved granite pieces for the statue, in 21 shipping containers, were reported to have been kept at the container yard then.