RANTAU PANJANG, Malaysia: The RM8.8mil (2.5 Million US Dollars) Sultan Ismail Petra Silver Jubilee Mosque, the first Chinese-style mosque in the country, is now complete.

The mosque, also known locally as the Beijing Mosque, has a unique design that combines Chinese and Islamic architecture similar to the more than 1,000-year-old Niujie mosque in Beijing. It also incorporates Indian and Uzbekistan features, especially for the interior decoration.

Developed on a 3.7 hectare land along the Kota Baru-Rantau Panjang road, visitors could mistakenly think it is a Chinese temple due to its pagoda-like structure.

Construction of the mosque started on Sept 12, 2005.The mosque is now complete.Kelantan Deputy Mentri Besar Datuk Ahmad Yaakob, who is the chairman of the project, said the mosque symbolises that Islam is for all.

He added that the mosque could accommodate up to 1,000 people at a time.

The mosque’s main complex consists of a two-storey building where the second floor houses facilities like the main prayer hall and VIP rooms.The first and mezzanine floors have amenities such as a multipurpose hall, library, kindergarten and a bazaar.

A local businessman, Muhammad Ali, 46, said he had been praying regularly at the mosque although it had yet to be officially opened.

Owing to its unique design, the mosque is deemed as the new tourist attraction for the state, attracting both local and foreign visitors while promoting Rantau Panjang that is also one of the three duty free-zones in the Kelantan State.

Earlier, Kelantan Economic Planning, Finance and Welfare Committee chairman Husam Musa reportedly said the state government had decided to allocate 50,000 ringgit (14,285.71 U.S. dollars) to a committee tasked to manage the mosque.

Source: News agency dispatches and press reports.