A group of Indian NGOs today objected to a meeting to be held tomorrow between Selangor Menteri Besar Dr Mohd Khir Toyo and several Hindu temple representatives over the issue of temple demolitions in the state. 

The main crux of their complaint is the credibility of the newly-formed umbrella body that claims to represent Hindu temples and Hindu-based organisations in Malaysia and its chairperson R Nadarajah (left).

“Nadarajah and the organisation he leads – the Malaysian Hindu Council (MHC) – is not the most credible and recognised group in the community,” said N Mahendran representing 29 Indian-based NGOs.

“Nadarajah and the Malaysian Hindu Council have allowed the desecration of the holiest Hindu place of worship in Malaysia and the region,” he told Malaysiakini.

Mahendran was referring to the violent dispersal by police of a large crowd who had gathered peacefully at the compound of the Batu Caves Hindu temple in the early hours of Nov 25 last year.

The crowd had arrived there prior to participating in the much-talked about Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) organised rally in Kuala Lumpur later that morning.

The police have said that they had acted after they were called in by the Batu Caves temple management committee, which Nadarajah heads.

Mahendran said that the Malaysian Hindu Council only came onto the local scene in recent months.

“Only a handful of NGOs are aware of their existence and as such they can’t truly and honestly represent the interests of the community,” he said, adding that a more accepted established body, the Malaysian Hindu Sangam, should attend such meetings with government leaders.

Election gimmick

The Seremban-based Indian Malaysian Active Generation also felt that the Malaysian Hindu Sangam was a more appropriate body to talk to Khir on matters pertaining to Hindu temple demolitions.

Its spokesperson Yohan Vivegananthan questioned why Nadarajah’s group had suddenly come into the picture talking about protecting temples.

“Why only now? Where was this Malaysian Hindu Council during the demolition of the many Hindu temples in Selangor?” he asked. 

He said that the meeting organised by Nadarajah’s MHC was merely ‘an election gimmick’ to hoodwink the community into believing that something was now being done to protect Hindu temples from demolition. 

Another vocal grassroots movement, Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), also raised the credibility issue not just of Nadarajah’s but also of Khir’s in holding their meeting tomorrow. 

“Both of them have played direct or indirect roles in the desecration of Hindu temples in the state,” GCC’s coordinator Charles Santiago (right) told Malaysiakini.

He said Nadarajah should first apologise to the community for allowing the police to enter the Batu Caves temple compound on Nov 25 last year.

As for Khir, Santiago said that the Selangor menteri besar had allowed many Hindu temples in the state to be demolished without listening to the pleas of devotees.

“How can they then talk about protecting temples?” he asked.

‘They were trespassing’

The meeting tomorrow between Nadarajah’s MHC and Khir will be the first of its kind.

“We are calling on all temples in Selangor to provide us with the information […] all issues can be solved (at the meeting),” Nadarajah said in a statement last week. 

He also said that the Malaysian Hindu Council will be gathering information, among others on the size, land ownership and registration of Hindu temples. 

According to the state government, there are between 800 and 900 Hindu temples – both big and small – in Selangor.

On the Nov 25 crowd that had gathered at the Batu Caves temple, Nadarajah claimed that the crowd had trespassed into the temple and caused damage.

“Temple property (was) damaged. We need to lodge a police report to claim the insurance money. We never lodged a report against anybody but only on the trespassing,” he said.

The controversial meeting tomorrow was originally scheduled for 4.30 pm at the Batu Caves temple but the venue has now been shifted to the Prangsang Templar Park Golf Club in Rawang.