WILL THERE BE FAIRPLAY? Man wearing kopiah caught on CCTV destroying Buddhist deities nabbed

Penang police have arrested a jobless man yesterday in connection with vandalism at a Siamese Buddhist temple in Permatang Pauh, a town in Seberang Prai, the hinterland portion of the island-state, on Friday.

Seberang Prai Tengah district police chief ACP Rusli Mohd Noor, in a text message, said the 29-year-old suspect was nabbed about 6pm yesterday in the northern part of Seberang Prai.

It was learnt that the man from Tasek Gelugor was being remanded for three days to facilitate investigations.

It was reported yesterday that the temple's closed circuit television cameras (CCTVs) had captured the vandalism.

The CCTV recording showed the culprit, who was wearing a kopiah (skull cap), arriving at the Wat Chantararam temple at Tanah Liat in Seberang Prai on a motocycle and walking around calmly before breaking three deities by hitting and pushing them to the ground.

The recordings then showed the man hopping onto his motorcycle and riding in circles on the temple compound, as if he was taunting the few shocked devotees. At one point, he appeared to zoom towards some of the devotees as if trying to run them down.

Yesterday, temple committee chairman Koh Kok Weng, who lodged the police report on the incident, told the media that the vandalism had caused invaluable loss as the three deities were more than 50 years old.

The incident, a first at the temple, had upset devotees. He added that the temple community had enjoyed a healthy and harmonious relationship with the neighbourhood, including an old mosque nearby.

The temple, located along Jalan Tanah Liat, is one of about eight Siamese Buddhist temples in Penang and said to be well-known among the Malaysian Siamese community and also in Thailand.

During a visit to the temple yesterday, Permatang Pauh MP Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim said local Muslim preachers and leaders, whom he met since the incident, had expressed their concern over the act.

He thanked the people and devotees at the temple for understanding that this was not the attitude of Muslims. He also reportedly said the culprit was mentally unsound.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng said the state would provide some financial compensation to the temple, which he described as one of the state's heritage sites.

Meanwhile, Seberang Prai Utara district police chief ACP Abdul Rahman Ibrahim said police believed the suspect was also involved in another vandalism act at a Siamese temple in Tasek Gelugor yesterday.

"We were alerted about 10.30am that someone had vandalised the deities in the temple at Kampung Pokok Machang. Two hours later, our personnel managed to track down and detain the suspect in Tasek Gelugor.

"We believe he may be the same person, who allegedly committed the vandalism at the Siamese temple in Tanah Liat on Friday," he told reporters at the district police headquarters in Kepala Batas after flagging off a convoy of volunteers on a humanitarian mission to flood-hit Kelantan.

When asked about the suspect's mental health, Abdul Rahman said police had sent the suspect for evaluation at the Jalan Perak psychiatric hospital.

He said the suspect was later handed over to his counterpart at the Seberang Prai Tengah district police headquarters to facilitate investigations there.

The man, he added, was now being investigated under Section 295 of the Penal Code for injuring or defiling a place of worship with intent to insult a religion. – TMI