Prosecute those responsible for demolition of Lembah Bujang ruins, Guan Eng tells Mukhriz

The Kedah government has been urged to bring to book those responsible for the destruction of the centuries-old temple ruins in Sungai Batu, Lembah Bujang, instead of merely issuing a stop work order to the developer.

Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng, in calling on his Kedah counterpart, Menteri Besar Datuk Mukhriz Mahathir, to prosecute the guilty parties involved if they had broken the law, said: "If laws were broken, then those in the wrong should be prosecuted.

“We expect the Kedah government to come out with proactive policies to protect and preserve monuments and historical sites.

"Governments in power must have the political will to act and punish those who destroy the rich history of our country. In Penang, we have placed much importance on safeguarding and advancing the Unesco Heritage areas," he said in a statement today.

Lim was commenting on the demolition of Candi number 11 in Sungai Batu that has been making headlines over the past few days. The demolition was conducted by a developer that has plans to build a residential project on the site where the temple ruins once stood.

The developer, Bandar Saujana Sdn Bhd, has claimed that it did not know that the structure was a historical temple ruins, and said that when it bought the land from another developer years ago, the property had no encumbrances.

Lim also urged the Tourism and Culture Ministry and the National Heritage Department to take immediate steps to get the valley listed as a Unesco World Heritage site.

"I welcome the Kedah government's move to issue a stop work order to the developer but a stop work order is not enough," he said.

Earlier today, Mukhriz in a statement revealed that the developer was given approval to develop the land in 1993 but only began clearing the land in August this year.

It was reported that locals did not realise that the temple ruin, which was reconstructed in 1974 by the Museum Department, had been demolished until the oil palm trees surrounding it were chopped down.

Yesterday, an official at the Lembah Bujang Archaelogy Museum near the site said the protection and preservation of historical sites comes under the purview of the National Heritage Department and not the museum.

He also claimed that he hardly saw the staff from the department in Lembah Bujang.

Lembah Bujang researcher Datuk V. Nadarajan also said yesterday that the valley has many temple ruins that are undocumented and ungazetted.

Without proper efforts to find and identify them, he claimed, many of these ruins may have been destroyed by development in recent years.