DBKL demolishing shops, not temple, says MIC chief

MIC President G Palanivel said the demolition works at the site of the historic Golden Triangle Muneswarar Kuil at Jalan P Ramlee is okay as long as the temple is not touched.

When asked by reporters about the incident today after being re-elected as the president of MIC unopposed, Palanivel said he had written to Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor urging him to stop him demolishing the temple.

“In the last cabinet meeting I wrote a letter to Tengku Adnan. They wanted to pull out the existing temple in the city area, so he presented a paper and he agreed to keep it.

“So they wanted to demolish all the other shops and all that, but that is okay.

“Not the temple, they are keeping the temple as it is. I am the one who wrote the letter to Tengku Adnan, they didn’t disturb it (the temple),” he said.

Earlier today ten people, including PKR activist S Jayathas and MIC Federal Territories Youth chief D Tharmakumaran were arrested for trying to stop what they believed was the demolition of the temple.

When asked about the arrests Palanivel said that he hadn't heard about it yet as he had obviously been very busy this morning with the elections, and said he would look into it.