Officers at temple fracas over-zealous, says MIC

MIC deputy president Dr S Subramaniam said that the manner in which work was carried out by enforcement officers at the Golden Triangle Muneswarar temple at Jalan P Ramlee was "over-zealous".

When asked today about the allegations of police misconduct at the temple on Sunday in which 10 people were arrested, Subramaniam (right) suggested that enforcement officers should receive extra training.

"I think sometimes enforcement officers become over-zealous. Like this conference that we are having for patient safety and healthcare, perhaps a conference for enforcement officers can be done so they can have better communication, and do their jobs in a manner which is acceptable."

He added this was not the first time this kind of incident had taken place, where unpleasant feelings were created in enforcing policy.

Subramaniam was speaking at the Malaysian Society for Quality in Health conference at Putrajaya today.

DBKL personnel wore shoes and smoked cigarettes in the temple while removing the statues of deities before proper rituals could be conducted.

The temple committee also claimed that DBKL started work on the temple without prior notice.

Subramaniam also expressed disapproval with how the authorities handled protesters that day.

"I think there are issues in the way they handled the people at the protest, even my own youth chief (T Mohan) was arrested, he was put in the Dang Wagi police station and I had to go rescue him,

"I never like stepping into a police station and unfortunately I had to that day, I had to go in and take him out,” he said, 

Gov't still provides hefty fuel subsidies

Meanwhile, Subramanian defended the government decision to raise petrol and diesel prices by 20 sen because the amount saved in subsidies can be used to fund other things such as hospitals.

He said that the public must appreciate the fact that the fuel is still being heavily subsidised by the government.

“The Prime Minister (Najib Abdul Razak) also announced ... that despite the (price increase) the government is still subsidising every litre (by) about 60 to 70 sen, so I think we have to appreciate that.

"We are one of the few countries to continuously subsidise petrol and diesel at such a high rate," he said.

Asked about inflationary fears, Subramaniam said that it will happen to a certain degree, but "to the greater extent, I think it's not going to be a problem".