Sep 30 2008
MIC protest over temple demolition
Looks like MIC is learning to become an opposition party. Hope they will do well and become a good opposition party in Selangor. Yesterday, the MIC Youth. led by its acting coordinator Mohan protested at the Selangor state government building in Shah Alam. From the photos, about 80 people were there. They were there to protest the demolishment of Ampang Maha Kaliamman temple recently. According to the Star, some NGOs were also involved, but no names provided.
Mohan condemned Xavier Jayakumar over his statements that the temple was a small issue and that the municipal council was right in demolishing it.
According to the interview Mohan gave in NST (excerpts):
“He should investigate who ordered the demolition as the state did not issue any such order. However, the responsibility still lies in the hands of the state as the municipal council reports to the state.”
He said Jayakumar’s comments were an insult to the Indian community, in also referring to the the place of worship as being only a shrine.
“Even if it is a shrine, is it all right to demolish it? All this talk goes against what was said before the general election when they promised not to demolish any place of worship.”
The Sri Mahakaliamman temple was demolished by officers from the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council on Sept 9….Under the watchful eyes of a handful of policemen, the protesters carried banners and posters criticising the Pakatan Rakyat government and demanding that Jayakumar quit.
Mohan handed over a memorandum addressed to Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim, which was received by Khalid’s political secretary, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
Mohan asked why MPAJ did not inform the state government of the demolition. He also wanted to know what the state was doing to settle this problem and also whether the state could give its assurance that no more temples would be demolished.
Mohan said the only solution now was for the state government to allow the temple to be rebuilt and the land it was on given for this purpose.
Asked whether any of the Ampang temple committee members were present at the protest, Mohan said no one was there as the temple management were Pakatan Rakyat supporters.
Asked why, then, was the MIC making a ruckus about the issue, he said a temple was a public place of worship for all Hindus and they had the right to protect it.
PPP’s rep also commented:
Federal Territory People’s Progressive Party chief A. Chandrakumanan said Jayakumar was practising a double-standard in handling this matter.
“This is especially so as he has the cheek to say it’s a small matter. Today, when he is part of the government, he is trying to protect and justify their mistake by saying that it was only a shrine built on forest reserve land.”
Interestingly, Mohan said that MIC had taken action and that was why the temple was rebuilt each time it was demolished (3 times) between 2002 and 2007. Now, this implies there was no long term solution in place while MIC was in power. Let’s hope the current state government can do better.
Anyways, here are some photos courtesy of Novinthen:
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was kind of surprised man ….. well Kapar MP asked these protestors a good question ….
“…MIC and its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu not to make a big issue out of the temple demolition as neither the Barisan Nasional component party nor its leaders acted when about 80 temples were demolished during Barisan’s administration of the state. ”
probably those annachi just woke up from sleep (thanks to sleeping doses from umno)
btw , didnt mic folks comdemn street protest ??
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is Killer in the pic ? or maybe shooting pictures kot…. hahhaha
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protest?? wht a crap! If they had showed their balls before we’d not argue about hndraf today .
to me the protest is joke rather than giving sympathy to the forgotten party.
They should have showed protest in BN controlled state not opposition’s state. Maybe they chicken out (like Killer) when Khir was in power .
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