KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 19 — To celebrate Malaysia’s cultural and religious diversity, Pos Malaysia will be issuing a special stamp series entitled "Places of Worship”.

The collection will feature five stamps displaying the images of Kapitan Keling Mosque (Penang), St Francis Xavier’s Church (Malacca), Sri Kandaswamy Temple (Kuala Lumpur), Gurdwara Sahib Shapha (Kuala Lumpur ) and Perak Cave Temple (Perak) with each stamp of the 60sen denomination.

Pos Malaysia group chief executive officer Datuk Mohd Shukrie Mohd Salleh said the stamps will be available at post offices nationwide starting from Monday.

"Malaysia is a unique country and it is well-known for its diversity where people of different races, religions and cultural backgrounds live harmoniously,” he told reporters at Pos Malaysia headquarters yesterday.

"We are issuing this special stamp collection to highlight the harmony of different places of worship found in Malaysia,” he said.

A total of 750,000 stamps will be sold in Malaysia and each stamp produced is limited to 150,000 pieces.

Stamp and philately unit head Diyana Lean Abdullah said the stamp is regarded as an investment, as the value of the stamp increases depending on the quantity produced.

"The reason why it is not mass produced is because we don’t want to flood the market with the stamps, and besides we want to preserve its rarity,” she said.

"If there is a demand the price of the stamp will go up, which is why we need to control the quantity.”

Diyana also said that this was the first time Pos Malaysia was producing a series on places of worship.

"Pos Malaysia had issued a similar stamp series in 1988 entitled Masjid Sultan Salahauddin Abdul Aziz Shah and the more recent one issued in 2015 was to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Masjid Negara. However, this will be our first time producing a series on places of worship of different religions.”

"The places were selected according to their establishment in Malaysia as well as their unique characteristics,” she

Asked on whether stamp collectors still exist in this modern age, Diyana said there were fewer collectors since the younger generation was not attracted to it.

"The younger generation is more into the Internet and social media, not many of them are collectors,” she said.

Diyana said in an effort to increase the number of stamp collectors, Pos Malaysia had approached many schools in Malaysia and 300 schools had agreed to make stamp collecting part of the students’ curriculum activity.

"Pos Malaysia will not stop there as we will approach more schools and cultivate the habit of collecting stamps among the younger generation.

"We believe each stamp is unique and has a story that can increase one’s general knowledge by reading more about it,” she said.