Posts Tagged ‘temples’

allocation for non Muslim place of worship still available

November 10th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


RM1.8 million – wow, that’s a lot!. With less than 2 months left, there’s not much activities that can be done. Allocations that are not used will not be carried forward to next year. What the places of worship can do is small renovations, purchase of items, and also perhaps organising charity event. School is around the corner. It will be great if some underprivileged kids are given new uniforms, shoes, bags and stationeries. If RM3 million can be finished in 60 over days under BN, why does it take new government long to finish the money?

1 – current government inefficient
2 – current government very stingy or ask too many question
3 – previous government very lax or used it as election goodies
4 – money went to cronies/favoritism under previous ruling
5 – lack of awareness

Only 10% of the additional RM2mil allocation by the Selangor Government for non-Muslim places of worship has been used up.

State Local Government, Study and Research Committee chairman Ronnie Liu said one reason more than RM1.8mil remained untouched was because many did not know its existence.

He said the previous Barisan Nasional government had allocated RM3mil for such places of worship this year, but all had been spent before the general election in March.

“The additional RM2mil is part of the commitment of the new government to help non-Muslim places of worship,” he said.

The allocation, he added, was meant for repairs, renovations and organising charity events.

He added that so far only Taoist and Hindu temple committees have applied.

“We hope churches and temples will apply before the end of Decem­ber,” he said.

Liu, who also sits on the committee for non-Muslim affairs, said there would be a higher annual allocation next year.

He said the allocation, for RM6mil, was approved in the state assembly last month.

Those who want to apply for this year’s allocation can write to the State Secretariat, Bangunan Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, Bukit SUK, Section 5, 40503, Shah Alam or call 03-5544 7000.

Statistics on Temple demolition in Selangor

October 28th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


The statistics mentioned by Xavier Jayakumar at Selangor state assembly:

A total of 96 Hindu and 37 Buddhist temples were demolished in Selangor between 2004 and 2007.

State exco member Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar said the move was carried out by the local authorities.

However, so far this year, 54 new applications had been approved by the committee task with regulating non-Muslim places of worship.

Among the applications are for 25 Hindu temples, 19, Buddhist temples and 10 churches.

Dr Xavier, who was answering a question from Lee Ying Ha (PR-Teretai), said although the applications had been approved by the committee, they would still need to be approved by the state executive council before the new places of worship could be built.

96 temples/4 years = 20 temples per year demolished. That’s about one temple every two and half weeks. Is it consistent with HINDRAF’s claims?

There’s also a catch with the approvals given by PR government. The non-muslim religious affairs committee (3 people: Xavier, Ronnie, and Teresa – WHO STILL HAVE NOT replied to my email) gave the approval. Its like a first round. The second round is the state EXCO.

religious structures in Selangor limited to 10000 square feet

October 25th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


I’m wondering if NST wrote this wrongly. It says that Dr Xavier said the state government had approved a policy whereby religious structures of any religion other than Islam must not exceed 10,000 sq ft in size .

This seems to be a ridiculous rule indeed. Why would there be a limit? Logically, the community that wants to build a place of worship will know its own financial strength and the viability of such places. Secondly, religious buildings/structures can double up as tourist attractions. So, limiting the size is inappropriate.

Secondly, those owners of illegally built places of worship will be fined continuously until government recognition is received. This is also illogical. If the owners are in the dark about existence of such places on their lands, or if such places are in process of getting recognition, the fines should be waived.

The Selangor government in July instructed all local authorities in the state to fine owners of houses of worship built illegally, said State Health, Plantation Workers, Poverty and Caring Government Committee chairman, Dr Xavier Jayakumar.
The fines needed to be settled continuously until the owners received government recognition for the houses of worship, he said when answering a question from Sulaiman Abdul Razak (BN-Permatang) in the State Assembly here today.

By the way, I’m still waiting for Jayakumar et. al.’s reply to my email on temple demolition report.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

What happened to Ampang temple demolition report

October 22nd, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


from: Poobalan
to: TERESAKOK@selangor.gov.my,
DRXAVIER@selangor.gov.my,
RONNIELIU@selangor.gov.my
cc: KHALID@selangor.gov.my,
Y B Manikavasagam Sundaram ,

date: Wed, Oct 22, 2008 at 12:08 PM
subject: Status of Investigation by 3-man committee over demolition of Ampang Mahakaliamman Temple
mailed-by gmail.com

Dear Sir/Madam,It has been nearly a month since the 3-man non-Muslim religious affairs committee was supposed to investigate the demolition of Ampang Mahakaliamman Temple. According to Mr Ronnie Liu’s statement in the Star:

“We are expecting the investigation results by Monday and we will look into the next course of action after that,” he said when contacted yesterday.
ref: http://www.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2008/9/30/nation/2150967&sec=nation
I would like to know the status of the investigation and how to obtain a copy of the investigation report. i hope it is not classified as official secret.

Regards,
M Poobalan

“SAY NO TO ALCOHOL”

Q1:  How long would it take to get a reply from anyone of the recipients?

Q2: Would the reply be meaningful?

Let’s wait and see. Countdown starts now…tick tock, tick tock, tick tock, tick tock…

7 temples still waiting for title in Puchong but no action from Xavier

October 10th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Reading this article, it sounded positive because 7 temples are being relocated from their respective places and put in the location (land presumably provided by IOI). I think I know this place. May have passed by this area without knowing it. Need to verify again.

However, the problem is with the land titles. Still no sight of them. According to Avtar Singh, he’s spoken to Xavier 3 months ago, but no news yet. Looks like Xavier is getting more bad publicity.

Awtar Singh, special assistant to Seri Serdang assemblyman Datuk Dr Mohd Satim Diman, highlighted the plight of the Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist temples recently.

He pointed out that these temples had already settled the planning issues with the local council, and were waiting for the state government and Land Office to issue them the land titles.

The temples are Persatuan Penganut Devi Arulmigu Sri Nagakali Jai Munis­warar in Puchong Hartamas, Kuil Aum Sri Maha Aathi Nageswary Amman in Puchong Gateway, Persatuan Pengu­rusan Kuil Maha Mariamman in Taman Perindustrian Pusat Bandar Puchong, Kuil Naga Nagawasrya Amman in Taman Puchong Intan, Kuil Aaudayar Muniswarar Alayam in Bandar Puteri Puchong, Persatuan Penganut Agama Sikh in Batu 14 Puchong and Persatuan Penganut Agama Buddha in Bandar Puteri Puchong.

“These temples have been given land to relocate and some have already had the structures put up by the deve­lopers.

“The land has been endorsed in the One-Stop Centre in the Subang Jaya Municipal Council and the district officer was supposed to submit papers to the state government for approval.

“Once approved, the temples will have to submit applications for the land titles.

“But the district officer hasn’t done his part yet,” Awtar said.

He said he has spoken to Selangor health, plantation workers and caring government committee chairman Dr Xavier Jeyakumar, who is also in the three-man committee on non-Muslim religious affairs, about three months ago but no action had been taken so far.

“I urge him to call for a meeting at the Land Office to hear the problems of these temples. The Land Office can get the paper work done immediately to send to the Selangor exco for approval,” he said.

In this case, I find hard for Xavier to give any excuse. He can’t blame the local council, the district officer, nor the land office because he was given earlier alert by Avtar Singh. So, the fault should be on Xavier. Unless of course, such actions take months to clear. Still unacceptable because its the job of the EXCO to solve the problem if already know about it.