Editor’s Note: Thankfully, an amicable solution has been reached yesterday afternoon (March 25) with the management of the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman temple agreeing to re-locate to a new site about 50-60 metres away.
According to MIC deputy president Datuk Seri M. Saravanan, the temple has been granted a 4,000 sq feet land plot which will be gazetted under the name of the temple committee. Until then, the temple will continue to operate as usual till the entire re-location process is completed.
IF SHE can turn back the clock, Siti Kasim would have expected Prime Minister Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim to take a step back than to proceed with what she described as the “symbolic ground-breaking ceremony” of the purported Masjid Madani which will soon occupy the site of the 130-year-old Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Hindu temple.
In her post-mortem of the chain of events prior to the reaching of the above-mentioned win-win solution between the temple management and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL), the human rights activist and lawyer was appalled at PMX’s action given the matter has sparked intense outrage within the Hindu and Muslim communities.
“I still cannot fathom as to why PMX is so eager to continue with the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony when he knew that the entire issue has stirred the emotions of both the Hindu and Muslim communities,” she ranted on her latest YouTube video.
“He already knew of the soaring temperature amid news flow of the temple’s demolishment and re-location … I’ve been there yet there’s no way a mosque can be erected side-by-side the temple as proposed by some quarters given the small land size to accommodate the number of worshippers.
“It would have been best to shelve the symbolic ground-breaking ceremony (to quell the rising temperature pending the search for a workable solution).”
Appealing for understanding, PMX’s justification is that he found himself caught between a rock and a hard place as extremist Muslims chided him for giving in to the Hindu pressure given the temple does not possess a proper land title despite claims of its 130-year existence while “extremists Hindus claim that I want convert everyone”.
“I’ve personally verified the land ownership information … mosques (and surau in the Jalan Mashid India vicinity) are packed, hence there’s a need for a new place. Henceforth I’ll go ahead as planned to perform the ground-breaking ceremony (on March 27)”.
Meanwhile, Digital Minister Gobind Singh Deo paid tribute to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Federal Territories) Datuk Seri Dr Zaliha Mustafa, Batu MP P. Prabakaran, Kuala Lumpur mayor Datuk Seri Maimunah Mohd Sharif and her DBKL for helping to find a solution.
“The temple committee had approached me about a month and a half ago to raise their concerns over the status of the temple,” recounted the DAP national chairman.
“They had sought my assistance. We started work immediately and engaged with the concerned parties. I had also visited the temple.
“YB Prabakaran had also been actively assisting the temple committee. Several suggestions were put forward but the most important thing was for us was to find an amicable solution that would address the situation.”
Moving forward, Siti Kasim hopes that the authorities can put in place proper rules and law with regard to land ownership for (religious) entities that have existed for hundreds of years to prevent a repeat of the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman temple issue.
Otherwise, they would further create more disharmony and racial/religious discord in the society instead of improving the situation … we shall see how the symbolic gesture by our PMX fare tomorrow (March 27) as big tents have already been erected in the vicinity.
The heat underneath (from the temple issue) will continue to simmer if our government remains clueless in handling similar situation in the future.
The relationship between our races is going to worsen especially with politicians in the likes of Akmal (UMNO Youth chief Datuk Dr Muhamad Akmal Saleh) saying things without using his brain.
“As it is, many of our current leaders lack emotional intelligence as in the case of Akmal who consciously or otherwise, has stroked the anger of the Hindus by painting their temple as squatting in an illegal site in his quest to be a Malay Muslim champion.” – Focus Malaysia
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