Posts Tagged ‘temples’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

RM428 million for mosques and RM8 million for others

July 3rd, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


In a 60/40 population, 428 million versus 8 million doesn’t look balanced no matter how you cut it. And that is just for the period between 2005 and 2008.

 

Let’s do the maths:

 

428/ 42 months (from Jan 2005 until June 2008) = 10.19 million per month.

 

8/42 months = 190,000 per month.

 

That means mosques get 53.63 times more than other places of worship month-wise. Over the said period, its 53.5 times more than the allocation for temples and churches.

 

And bear in mind that this amount is to be shared between temples (Hindus, Buddhists, Taoist?) and churches.

 

The deputy minister for Internal Security also said that the government has been disbursing RM1 million per year for temples/churches and Hindu temples respectively for physical construction projects.

1 comment »

Posted in BornInMalaysia, Religion

Tags:

Kampung Pandan Indian Settlement gets eviction notice

June 23rd, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Kampung Pandan community’s worry had become a reality since they have been given an eviction notice. Before the elections, the community openly said that since 1980s, BN representatives could not do anything to help. Even meeting between Samy Vellu and officials from City Hall was not fruitful. They ended up supporting PAS candidate.

The residents were worried about the tamil school, temple and madrasah located there.

To quote from earlier posting:

“Samy Vellu told us he is so close to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi that he can flick Abdullah’s ear. He hasn’t done anything since,” said Rajoo.

So, the community had a demonstration on Sunday protesting the eviction notice.  According to NST, 200 police were placed to guard the 150 “squatters” who have lived there since before independence time.

This is going to be a problem from FT Ministry, MIC, PPP senators, and all those who said that temples WON’T  be demolished. What will happen to the school? Dare they step up and solve the problems, or cite more technicalities and rules to hide their inability to keep their promises? If they can’t do it, don’t make empty promises. Something that Pakatan Rakyat states are being accused of as well.

Kampung Pandan Indian Settlement Action Committee chairman Suresh Kumar said the protesters were not objecting to the notices, but they want more time to further discuss the issue with City Hall.
“How can they serve us a one-month notice on June 10, asking about 3,000 people to move out by July 8? The 270 houses have been here for 51 years,” he said.

“They offered us rented units in the DBKL low-cost flats in Kampung Muhibbah, Puchong, in the past but we declined because it was too far away.”

He said there were several issues they wanted to discuss with City Hall, adding that they wanted to know what the plans for the redevelopment of the squatter land were.

They want City Hall to build low-cost flats where their houses are located and give them the units for free as compensation. They also want compensation for the demolished temples and for them to be rebuilt by City Hall.

Hindu Rights Action Force coordinator S. Jayathas and Pas officials were present.

– NST

Comments Off on Kampung Pandan Indian Settlement gets eviction notice »

Posted in Indian

Tags:

MIC team to study KL Plan 2020

June 12th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


One of those instances where MIC announces something beyond the usual stuff. Hope something good comes out of the study. The “needs of the Indian community” refers to places of worship, crematorium and Tamil schools, I guess.

Its also good to notice that MIC wants to focus on poor people and students especially on housing matters. I would also suggest that efficient transportation, Internet facilities, waste management, crime prevention, and environmental issues to be addressed as well.

KUALA LUMPUR: The MIC has set up a special committee comprising architects, lawyers and professionals to study City Hall’s draft plan for 2020.President Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu said it would make recommendations to City Hall to ensure that the needs of the Indian community were addressed.

Speaking at the opening of the Federal Territory MIC delegates’ conference here yesterday, Samy Vellu said City Hall should ensure that housing developers allocated land for places of worship, including temples. “There should also be proper infrastructure facilities to conduct rituals for the deceased in their residential areas, especially for those who live in flats,” he said.

He said City Hall should also provide hostels for students from rural areas who study in secondary schools or colleges in the city.

Samy Vellu also urged City Hall to allocate flats for the lower middle-class, rather than only to those below the poverty level.

He added that the MIC was fortunate that it had Federal Territories deputy minister Datuk M. Saravanan to ensure their requests to City Hall were addressed.

Samy Vellu said even though many squatters now enjoyed modern and comfortable housing, there were still others who lived as squatters.  “We want an undertaking that adequate housing facilities be provided in areas nearer to work as well as schools when the people migrate to the city,” he said.

source

1 comment »

Posted in Indian

Tags:

more allocation and better guidelines for places of worship in Selangor

June 7th, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


It seems that all this while, there were certain rulings for building places of worship in Selangor. In particular, there are limitation in terms of size (10,000 sqft), and land allocation by developer for new housing projects (0.4ha). There’s also limitation in terms of height, it seems. Wonder why the previous state government discriminated so much? Is it due to inaction by the community leaders or leaders refusing to listen to coalition partners? I remember folks talking about the temples not allowed to be taller than the nearby mosques. Not sure how true it was, but the statement by Dr Xavier indicates some truth in that notion. The following excerpts are from The Star:

SHAH ALAM: Non-Muslim places of worship in Selangor will have a higher annual allocation and the limit on the land size removed, under proposed changes to the guidelines.  Also proposed will be that all land earmarked for places of worship should not be located near oxidation pond, septic tanks, high tension wires or large drains.

State health, plantation workers, poverty and caring government committee chairman Dr Xavier Jayakumar said he felt the current RM3mil allocation from the state government was too small compared to its large population.  He said he would recommend to the state executive council to raise the amount substantially in next year’s budget but declined to reveal the amount sought for.

He added the current 930 sq m limit for the size and limits on height and length of the buildings should not be fixed because there were many things to be considered like the location and needs of the community.

Dr Xavier said he and Liu felt the current condition for a 0.4ha land allocation for non-Muslim places worship in major development was inadequate given the large population in such areas.

source

However, in NST, it is stated that the limits has been abolished:

SHAH ALAM: A requirement that limits new non-Muslim places of worship to 10,000 sq feet has been abolished by the state government. State Health, Plantation Workers, Poverty and Caring Government Committee chairman Dr A. Xavier Jayakumar said the requirement was impractical and as such, no predetermined limits on size, length and height would be imposed on any religious community.  Dr Xavier said town planners must consider the size and needs of the communities.”The proposed places of worship should be big enough to cater to the needs of a particular religious community in any area.”

He said no more places of worship would be built next to sewage ponds, high-tension wires or power substations. » Read more: more allocation and better guidelines for places of worship in Selangor

9 comments »

Posted in BornInMalaysia, Religion

Tags:

Kapar temple status threatened by land owner

June 3rd, 2008
|  Subscribe in a reader | Subscribe to poobalan.com by Email


Well, in this instance, the authorities are not directly involved. The questions being raised is the inaction by the police on various reports made by the temple caretaker for last two years. Its related to the dubious manner of the land ownership transfer. Unfortunately, the temple lost the court case years ago, thus no option but to relocate. The caretaker had put in an application to set aside the ruling, but the owner is not bothered to wait. Perhaps the court should put up a restraining or stop-work kind of order. Then we can see if the police follow the court decision or not.

Until then, the police won’t be protecting the temple since court ruled otherwise. I’m sure in this instance, the police will follow the rule of the law and protect the owner. The only option is to provide proof of embezzlement or criminal action by the new owner. But even then, a recent landmark case involving land transfer shows that the “sale” or “transfer” is valid (even though invalid methods are used) and the buyer’s rights are protected. The actual owner (whose land title was transferred without their knowlege) lost their case. So, again I think legal avenue will be failure as well.

Since the owner is private (individual), he won’t be so charitable to allocate a plot for the temple. He won’t be standing for any election is not worried position and power. Only thing is that, if indeed he cheated in order to own the land, Amman will ensure he and his future generation pays many folds. That’s natural law.

Next option is political intervention – perhaps PR government will create much hassle until the new owner can’t do any development in the land. Or just buy the land and convert it into park. temple, school land etc. This would be a big challenge for new Kapar MP Manikavasagam. I’m sure Komala is waiting happily to seize the opportunity and hentam him.

They way I see it, only political or divine intervention can save the temple. Perhaps the owner will have a dream soon! 🙂

Kapar seems to be in the papers due to land issues nowadays.

MP Manikavasagam have written on his website about the issue. Photos are available at his Picasa site.

Kannan (Hindraf Coordinator) provides an account of the happenings (via email): » Read more: Kapar temple status threatened by land owner

10 comments »

Posted in Indian, Religion

Tags: