I think this is the talk of the town at the moment. This temple is near my house and I visit it few times a year. I even have its website on my blog roll. Its a well known temple, and currently they are on a donation drive to build a wedding hall. Was supposed to donate, but now I want to find out more info before giving away money.  The temple is just next to SJKT Castlefield and is blocked from from LDP by the new furniture shop.

A temple devotee (also MIC Puchong Information Chief – according to a twitter message) burned himself in protest over temple demolition. More news came out later and things became clear. There is no temple demolition, but two “structures’  – one is a toilet and the other is a large storage room to keep the temple chariot and other stuff. The story (according to the news articles below) goes like this:

1. Land belongs to school. (But one report says the land is government reserve land).
2. 10 years ago, temple asks the land to be temporarily used by temple and promise to return it when school needs it. School builds storage room and toilet. Some say the proposed new multi-purpose hall is proposed to be located on this land as well.
3. School gets RM500k grant from Education Ministry to built pre-school. School says it wants the land given to temple earlier and writes to temple. Says no reply from temple. More discussions, but not fruitful. Grant will be revoked if no location is identified by year end, whereas temple wants 1 year grace period to relocate toilet and storage room.
4. School contacts MBSJ. MBSJ issues notice to evacuate on Oct 26.
5. After discussion, demolition postponed to after Deepavali.
6. When the demolition team came yesterday, the guy climbed on the roof and threated to set himself on fire. One RELA member says a gust of wind caused the lighter flame to change direction and ignite the kerosene-soaked clothers. The brother claims got people instigate him. [Maybe Lord Perumal is upset and showing his power? You can’t play the fool with God.]
7. The victim taken to hospital and buildings demolished. A meeting was held and the temple given another 7 days to relocate the storage room material. Problem considered solved by MBSJ councillor.

Its indeed a sad day for the Indian community when two of the important icons for us – the tamil school and the temple – get embroiled in such shameful incident. How can things end up like this? Lord Perumal is sure to be unhappy with this kind of attitude from His subjects.

For me, the pre-school  is more important. One friend suggested that both can co-exist, but I think this will cause problems. I can’t foresee both sides able to be tolerant, patient and well-planned in order to co-share a building.

HRP organised candle light vigil at Anwar Ibrahim’s house, attended by MIC folks as well, in protest of the incident. They also planned to submit a memorandum but its seems Anwar is conveniently missing at that time. While its OK to submit memo and do candle light vigils, I hope HRP can take other action as well, like getting the two groups (school and temple) to TALK and COME to a solution. Then, gather everyone and submit a proposal to state/federal government. That would have been a feather in HRP cap, but now, the candle light vigil and memo submission became “just another activity”. However, HRP did point out that the government reserve land next to temple can be allocated to the temple to solve the problem.

I wonder where’s the area MP and ADUN. Busy getting thrown out of parliament, visiting open houses, tired from by-elections, or simply not bothered?

News from Malaysiakini:

A temple devotee in Pusat Bandar Puchong was rushed to the hospital this morning after dousing himself with petrol and lighting up over fears that part of his temple would be demolished by the local authorities.

M Chakragunasegaran, 52, is now in critical condition at the Serdang Hospital after police and members of the temple committee doused the flames, by which time he had lost consciousness.

Temple committee secretary K Dharmalingam, 49, said he was in the midst of early morning prayers at the Sri Srinivasa Perumal temple – situated in a Tamil school compound – when a commotion broke out and he heard Chakragunasegaran shouting, “Don’t demolish the temple!”

Enforcement officers from the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ), police officers and men and members of the volunteer defence corp Rela had arrived to demolish a room that had served to store temple equipment, to make way for a pre-school.

After Chakragunasegaran was taken to hospital, Dharmalingam said, the local council personnel went about demolishing the storage room.

He said a notice had been issued on Oct 26, directing the committee members to vacate the storage room for the pre-school.

However, he is disappointed that the authorities did not give them sufficient time to vacate the area.

“It’s been 10 years since this temple was built. The land on which it stands is reserve land,” he told Malaysiakini when contacted.

Another temple committee member, T Pukalenthy, 42, said the school had allowed the construction of the additional building 10 years ago.

“The demolition was not appropriate. They should have told the temple management earlier,” he said.

MPSJ councillor KN Michael Tamilarason said a meeting was held late this morning, involving representatives of political parties, enforcement agencies, the school and the temple committee.

According to him, it was agreed that the demolition of the storage room would be put on hold for a week.

“The school authorities have agreed to give the temple committee seven days to move the equipment in the storage room. The problem has been solved,” Tamilarason told Malaysiakini.

Enforcement personnel have put up a fence around the area.

According to Bernama, Serdang police chief Abdul Razak Elias said Chakragunasegaran suffered burns to the body and face.

“The incident occured at 9.30am when 200 MPSJ workers, police and Rela members began the operation.

“A man shouted don’t demolish, set himself ablaze and then fainted. He was saved by members of the public,” he said.

The police had lodged a report on the incident at Puchong police station at noon today, Abdul Razak added.

From the Star:

A MAN set himself on fire in protest against the demolition of an illegal structure at a temple by the Subang Jaya Municipal Council (MPSJ) at the Puchong Industrial Park yesterday.

The person, identified as Chakara Guna, was sent to the Serdang Hospital for treatment.

No more: The illegal temple structures, comprising a toilet and a store room, being demolished.

A Rela member S. Magen said the man repeatedly doused himself with kerosene and threatened to set himself on fire on different occasions around the area.

“Around 9.45am, he pulled the same stunt while holding a cigarette lighter. Suddenly, the wind blew towards him and his kerosene-soaked body accidentally caught fire,” he said.

A meeting was held later in the morning after the incident. It was attended by MIC Youth chief T. Mohan, representatives from MPSJ town planning department and MPSJ councillor Michael Tamilarason.

According to SJK (T) Castlefield, Puchong board of directors chairman Nagamuthu, the issue began four years ago when the land surveyors came and certified that the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple’s store room and toilet were built on school land.

“We wanted to apply for a land title in 2007 and a licence survey was conducted.

“We had a meeting with representatives from the education department, Land Office, Parent-Teacher Association and the temple.

“The temple representatives agreed to demolish the structures when the school needed to utilise the land,” he said.

About six months ago, the school received a RM500,000 grant from the Education Ministry to build two kindergartens.

“We wrote to the temple committee members asking them to move out but our request fell on deaf ears.

“Last month, we were informed by the ministry that the grants will be withdrawn if we did not identify the land for the kindergartens,” he said.

He added that they sought advice from the police and MPSJ to solve the issue as “the temple representatives were adamant”.

“The council put up a notice on Oct 26 that the structures be taken down in a week’s time.

“The demolition of the structures was supposed to be done last week but it was only carried out yesterday after requests from several political leaders to postpone it to after Deepavali,” he said.

At the meeting, the temple representatives asked to be given a year to relocate the temple’s toilet and store room but the school representatives declined.

Mohan and Michael were on hand to calm both parties when the discussion turned into a heated argument.

According to Mohan, it was decided the government reserve land next to the temple will be used temporarily until the temple completes the construction of the store room and toilet within the temple grounds.

Nagamuthu said the cost of the demolition and the temporary building will be borne by the school board.

The temple committee adviser could not be contacted for comments at press time.

More info from Malaysiakini, this time coverage on the brother of the devotee claiming the brother was instigated:

The younger brother of the temple devotee who burned himself yesterday over the demolition of part of his temple’s storage room alleged today that several persons were on the roof with M Chakragunasegaran and issued ‘challenges’ against the latter.

M Alejandran claimed that his brother was only feigning the attempt at self-immolation, and suggested further that he was goaded into carrying out the act by the said individuals. 

“Who would want to burn himself? My brother was only bluffing,” Alegandran told Malaysiakini when contacted.

“I was told that there were individuals who had gone up to the roof to order my brother to come down, and they issued threats against him.

“Because of his fear (of them), my brother got burned,” he added.

Separate police reports were lodged by family members of Chakragunasegaran as well as by the committee members of the Sri Srinivasa Perumal temple in Pusat Bandar Puchong, Selangor, where the incident happened yesterday.

In the drama that unfolded, Chakragunasegaran had climbed to the roof of the temple and pleaded for enforcement officers from the local council, police and members of volunteer defence corp Rela not to demolish a room that had served to store temple materials.

This followed the issuance of a notice directing the committee of the temple – which is situated within the compound of government school – to vacate the ten-year-old storage room to make way for a pre-school.

After Chakragunasegaran had doused himself with petrol and set himself on fire, he fell off the roof and became unconscious, and was said to have been in critical condition. 

Chakragunasegaran has since stabilised and was transferred from the Selayang Hospital to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. 

The demolition exercise has been suspended for a week after negotiations between the enforcement authorities and representatives of political parties and the temple committee.