PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea: Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad visits Hohola Mosque here today which has sort of his footprint, before ending his two-day working visit to Papua New Guinea (PNG).
The Prime Minister is instrumental in the construction of the mosque, which was established in early 2000s.
“What is interesting is that according to the Islamic Society PNG, the land was originally offered to Tun Dr Mahathir for the purpose of establishing the first mosque in PNG,“ Foreign Affairs Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah told Malaysian media ahead of the Hohola visit.
“But Tun, in his usual humble way, did not want the mosque to be built by him or named after him. He proposed that the mosque be constructed by the Islamic Society PNG, with contributions from Muslim organisations.”
Saifuddin added that the Malaysian government then had contributed the seed fund for the construction.
Dr Mahathir dismissed any significant contribution by him towards the setting up of the mosque.
“It was not our project. It was contributed by various Muslim organisations," he said.
Dr Mahathir was in PNG for the just-concluded Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation’s (Apec) annual summit.
The Apec attendance rekindles his last overseas trip (to PNG in 2003) during his previous stint as prime minister.
He was the country’s fourth prime minister from 1981 to 2003.