Giant Datuk Kong In Selangor Confuses Facebook, Malaysians Step In

A post questioning a large Datuk Kong statue at Pantai Redang, Sekinchan, spread through a community group this week; the corrections came faster than the outrage.

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When a Facebook user named Selmah Awang posted a photo of a large statue at Pantai Redang this week, she had one question: was someone worshipping a giant “Pak Haji”?

Hundreds of Malaysians had an answer.

The statue is a Datuk Kong — also known as Na Tuk Gong — a localised deity figure unique to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Brunei.

Chinese communities here venerate it as a guardian spirit of the land, depicted in Malay dress: songkok, sarung, baju kurung.

Offerings are kept halal — no pork, no alcohol — out of respect for its Malay cultural roots.

The practice does not exist in mainland China; it grew here, out of centuries of communities living alongside each other.

An Explanation, Not an Argument

Commenters across ethnic lines — more than 1,400 of them at the time of writing — explained all of this, unprompted.

Several Chinese users wrote their explanations in Malay, with one describing the tradition as a way of honouring the Malay community as tuan tanah.

A Chinese commenter went further, listing four points in careful Malay: that the deity represents the land’s guardian spirit, that in Malaysia, that spirit is understood to be Malay, and that offerings are kept strictly halal out of respect.

“Ini bukan ada apa-apa isu,” he wrote. “Ianya satu tanda bahawa kami menghormati kaum Melayu sebagai tuan tanah Malaysia.”

Malay commenters largely agreed, with some noting that similar keramat practices once existed in their own culture before fading away, as one commenter put it plainly: the Malays had the tradition first, and the Chinese inherited it.

“Hormat je diorg punya kepercayaan. Bukan ada kacau pape pun,” wrote another.

Not everyone was measured; a handful called for the police and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) to act against the original poster.

Not Without Controversy

But the tradition has a complicated record.

A shrine in Bukit Raja, Klang, was demolished in 2017 after its design was found to mimic a mosque dome.

In 2019, a statue of Datuk Kong placed inside a surau in Port Klang triggered police investigations and widespread condemnation.

In March, local authorities sealed a 60-year-old shrine for illegal construction.

More recently, a hardware shop owner in Perlis was arrested and later released on police bail after a Datuk Gong shrine at his store was found bearing the Arabic word for “Allah”.

The Datuk Kong debate in Malaysia remains unresolved; what this week showed is that it need not detonate.