Posts Tagged ‘temples’

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Yet another temple demolished in KL

February 9th, 2010
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Yet another temple demolished. That phrase is becoming common even though it was not supposed to be. This time, in KL, a place were the Deputy Minister Saravana pledged that no temples will be demolished without proper relocation plan or or solution. DBKL also has a committee consisting of MHS officials (well, not sure if the committee still exists or not). And yet still got temples being demolished. Interestingly, the DBKL officials say they have authority to demolish new structures built illegally. If that’s the case, then need to provide proof that the structure is new and the place was not a temple prior to this. But the followers say its a 60 year old temple. So, which is which? Maybe it is 6o years old, and the new structure was built to replace an older (and most likely smaller basic) one?

Anyway, this will make Deputy Minister Saravanan hot under the collar as its his head is on the block now.

A Hindu temple in Air Panas, Setapak was demolished by the Kuala Lumpur city council (DBKL) yesterday morning, leaving local villagers crying foul.

According to Om Sri Maha Kaliaman Alayam temple caretaker Ravi Shankar, about 20 DBKL enforcement officers came with bulldozers to demolish the more than 60-year-old temple without any notice.

DBKL officials however refuted the allegations, stressing that the building was in fact a new structure.

“We have the authority to demolish any new structures that have been built illegally, without notice,” said Sadiaah Hashim, administrative assistant of the DBKL squatter division.

Ravi has since made a report against DBKL at Sentul Police Station. He said that worshippers were praying at the temple at around 9am when a team of DBKL enforcement officers moved in to demolish the structure. “We did not try to stop them. We were taken by surprise and scared.”

MIC information chief, P Kamalanathan confirmed the incident and said that DBKL should have offered an alternative site before demolishing the temple.

“It should not havehappened. They should have consulted the local community leaders before demolishing the sacred place,” he said.

Lawyer P Uthayakumar who assisted the caretaker in making the report said: “According to the principles of Article 11, the temple should not have been demolished just as people do not demolish mosques.”

The Human Rights Party (HRP) have also submitted a letter to the prime minister, federal territories minister and Kuala Lumpur mayor to condemn the demolition and demanded that all Hindu temples be gazetted.

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Temple relocation hampering school construction

January 28th, 2010
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This should be a simple process. Since its for a good cause, the temple authorities should accept the proposal by the developer if the terms like land, relocation cost, building costs etc are acceptable. I assume the temple was there before the land was allocated to the school construction.  So what is the problem until can’t solve this issue since 2004? Is the suggested land near sewerage area or too small? Relocation cost not enough?

Hopefully the problem will be solved soon.

The state Education Department has called for cooperation from political parties and local Indian community to expedite the relocation of an illegally-built Hindu temple to allow the completion of a secondary school in Johor Bahru.

Its deputy director Markom Giran said the school SMK) Nusa Damai was now almost 100 completed except for the school field due to the presence of the temple.

“All infrastructures including classroom blocks and hostels have been completed but due to the presence of the temple, the contractor is unable to complete the school field, which is the last infrastructure to be built before the school can be handed over to the department,” he told Bernama.

He said that the negotiation to relocate the temple started in 2004 but there were no solutions yet.

Markom said he was made to understand that housing developer Nusa Damai had offered an alternative site for the temple not far from the existing one.

He hoped that the issue could be resolved soon as the school could help solve congestions in schools nearby such as Sekolah Menengah Kota Masai and Sm Taman Cendana which had 3,200 students and 2,800 students respectively.

“When SMK Nusa Damai is opened, 600 students from SM Kota Masai and between 300 and 600 students of SM Taman Cendana will be
transferred to the new school, thus easing congestion in the two schools,” he said.

He added that SMK Nusa Damai would have the capacity of 1,600 students while the hostels would be able to house 200 students.

“We hope the issue can be resolved amicably as soon as possible,” he said.

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Shah Alam temple photos, moratorium idea and temple building

October 26th, 2009
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MalaysianIndian1 Blog has some pictures of the said altar/shrine/temple before it was demolished, while Human Rights Party website has the scanned photos from newspapers post-demolishment.

Looking at the photos, I noticed the deities seem to resemble those found in Chinese places of worship.

So, is a proper religious site or used for obtaining 4D numbers as claimed by MBSA? Does it really matter? Its on government land, so they have right to demolish structure.  But is this considered temple, shrine or altar?

Very confusing. Anyway, MIC Youth wing advisor Vell Paari opined that a moratorium is placed on all Hindu temple demolitions until an amicable solution is reached on the status of these temples in the country. He said a  3 to 5 year period is needed for a “all-party” committee include stakeholders from state governments, political parties, civil societies, religious bodies, and temples,  to establish proper guidelines on Hindu temples. He further mentioned that till a proper guideline enforced with political will is established, temple demolishment issues will be used by political parties as part of the blame game, and the worshippers are the ones who suffer in the end.

I think it comes back to the culture. The Indians are known to be temple builders since thousands of years ago. Life practically evolved around temples if one observes cities in India, especially in southern states.  Things have changed a bit in recent years, as more of them embrace modernity. The “educated” tend to spend less time involved in temples but focus more on economic concerns. The rest still depend a lot on divine interception.  An ant hill or tree trunk can be converted into a place of worship easily. The story in Mahabaratham – Eklavya who makes a clay figure of his guru and learns archery by himself, comes to mind. Even in housing areas, there are residents who build an altar at their car porch area and do prayers till wee hours of night.

Asking the Malaysian Indians to not simply built temples everywhere is one of the possible steps, but how about those places already in existence? MHS is doing study on temples at myhindutemples.com for starters. Do we need some sort of committee at national level? Or to be handled by each states accordingly? Would it be proper to establish one under PM Dept or Ministry of Unity, for example?

Is accepting the culture of the Indian community part of 1Malaysia (or whatever)? If we are to accept others as they are, with warts and all, it should be the same the other way around, no?

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MBSA says its altar used for 4D prediction

October 23rd, 2009
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My earlier post was about the temple demolishment in Shah Alam, which was highlighted by PKR’s Manikavasagam yesterday and also newspapers today. However, MBSA issued statement (read in Malaysiakini) later today that the demolished structure was an “altar” used by few people to obtain 4D predictions.

Shah Alam Municipal Council (MBSA) deputy mayor, Mokhtar Hani said it was not a temple that was demolished as alleged by MIC, but rather an altar used by punters to obtain lucky numbers, built illegally on government land.

“We demolished an illegal structure, following complaints by the Jabatan Kerjaraya Daerah Petaling Jaya on the Jan 19,” said Mokhtar.

Mokhtar (left) said that the structure was built on government land without permission.

“The alleged Mathurai Veeran Temple is in actual fact an altar for punters to obtain numbers for gambling purposes.

“In fact, the altar was being maintained by these punters,” said Mokhtar.

“MBSA carried an inspection on Feb 16 and found out that there were six structures that was built without permission (of MBSA), and immediately issued a warning notice to the owners concerned to demolish the illegal structures that were put up,” said Mohtar.

Mohtar also said the owner of the structure, Muniandy Kathan, filed an appeal to MBSA to be given a one-month grace period starting from Feb 20 until March 20 this year to relocate the illegal structure, but failed to do so.

Following this, MBSA conducted an inspection on Oct 20 and found that not only had the original structure not been removed, but additions were made to it.

As such, he said, the MBSA had no choice but to demolish the structures on Oct 21 since there was no sign of any action on the part of the owner to relocate the structure all this while.

He said this in response to the statement by MIC president S Samy Vellu yesterday that the council had demolished a Hindu temple.

MBSA councilor Uthayasoorian Kalimuthu meanwhile expressed his disappointment with MIC for having manipulated the issue in an attempt to gain sympathy and support.

“MIC cannot use religion for politics.We do not want MIC to exploit this issue for their ’survival’,” Uthayasoorian said.

He also said that MBSA takes such allegations, which clearly incites religious sensitivities, seriously.

“We will not hesitate to take further action and also consider lodging a police report if necessary,” said Uthayasoorian (right).

Mokhtar also said there was a temple for Hindu devotees not far away from the demolished altar.

Earlier, Selangor MIC Youth head Shanker Raj Ayanger who visited the demolition site said he would hand over a memorandum to Selangor Menteri Besar Abdul Khalid Ibrahim on Wednesday to protest against the demolition of the structure.

Shanker also said a report was lodged at the Bukit Jelutong police station yesterday over the incident.

There are some photos of the demolished structures scanned from newspapers and hosted at HRP’s website. From the photos, it doesn’t look like a big temple, probably about smaller than a normal terrace house in terms of land area. A small structure with zinc roof, cemented floor, and wooden walls. Anyway, I hope some of the locals or eye witnesses can provide better details.

As for me, regardless of altar or temple, this is still considered a place of worship and must be handled sensitively. Not simply demolish. What’s the point of having a committee and making promises, but later playing with rhetorics? I never found any statement in the above article that mentioned about discussing or informing the non-Muslim religious affair committee about this temple problem. No mention of Malaysian Hindu Sangam as well. So, that means MBSA did not follow procedure? That’s an act of indiscipline and insubordination, no? Perhaps the councillor can verify on this.

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Another temple demolished in Shah Alam

October 23rd, 2009
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Facebook is quite active with the news of temple being demolished in Shah Alam yesterday. The temple, Mathurai Veeran Temple located at Persiaran Kerjaya, Jalan Glenmarie, Seksyen U1 in Shah Alam, was demolished by MBSA.

MIC was quick to condemn the demolition (OK, we can ignore their record for the moment):

MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said demolition of the Mathu-rai Veeran temple in Persiaran Kerjaya, Jalan Glenmarie, Seksyen U1 in Shah Alam was an “act of treachery” by the Pakatan Rakyat-led state government.

… Samy Vellu said the Mathurai Veeran temple committee had submitted an appeal to the February 2009 notice sent by the Shah Alam Municipal Council but the temple was still demolished without an alternative land being offered.

“There were also no discussion with the temple committee and no recent notices given by the council. They just went ahead and demolished it,” said Samy Vellu.

He wanted the Selangor Government, especially state executive councillor Dr. Xavier Jayakumar to explain the demolition, failing which the MIC would seek legal redress.

Samy Vellu goes on to point EXCO  Xavier Jayakumar to provide explanation:

Samy Vellu wanted the Selangor government, especially its state executive councilor Dr Xavier Jayakumar to explain the demolition, failing which MIC would seek legal redress.

“He (Xavier) does not seem to worry about what is happening. Perhaps this (the demolition) is being carried out because the Indians are not united under the Pakatan state government,” he said.

I too wonder how Samy Vellu knew that MBSA took “direct orders” from the Selangor government to demolish the temple. Who gave the orders? An individual? a committee? Selangor government here means the state secretariat, the EXCO or MB?

“I salute the MPSA for taking direct orders from the Selangor government without consulting the temple committee,” he added sarcastically.

Granted, current Selangor government did announce approval of land for temples time to time, but this is the second such demolishment happening. AFTER they have given their word that temples won’t be demolished without proper relocation. Remember Ampang Jaya? Well, search this blog for the related articles on that demolition.

Back then, MP Kapar Manikavasagam did some drama about quitting and all. There was even news about suspending high level officer in the MPAJ. I sent email to the committee on non-Muslim religious affair. But no news till now.

This time, MP Kapar also mentioned in his Facebook entry that those who did it should be sacked. So, who would it be? Some low-level MBSA enforcement officer? The head of enforcement division? MBSA chief? State secretary? Or ask the 3-man committee (Xavier, Ronnie, Teresa) to resign?

The temple demolished already. So, what’s next? Who going to foot the bill for relocation and reconstruction? Who is going to be demoted/suspended/fined/sacked? Who going to resign? Who will face legal action?

Should MBSA put a non-Muslim as the head to turn things around? Just wondering….

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