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.