Hindraf scrambles to save century-old Ashram

Waytha urges Heritage Department to stop the re-development of the building.

PETALING JAYA: Hindraf Chairman P Waytha Moorthy has sent out an urgent call to the National Heritage Department to stop the proposed re-development of the Swami Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields.

He said in a statement today that the department must “take immediate steps” to acquire and protect the building because the proposed development would “destroy the existing structure, which has been standing there for over 100 years”.

He pointed out that the building was classified as a Category 2 heritage building in Kuala Lumpur City Hall’s gazetted Structure Plan for 2004.

He also noted that the National Heritage Act allows the Commissioner of Heritage to designate a site as having heritage value and to acquire it.

Waytha said the ashram must be preserved because it “clearly fits all the necessary criteria in the form of its historic importance in Malaysian history, its social and cultural associations, its richness in exhibiting the diversity and the evolution of the multicultural social fabric of the Malaysian community.”

“The National Heritage Department has all the valid reasons to pursue with an objection to the demolition and/or change in the façade of a cultural heritage such as the Swami Vivekananda Ashram,” he added.

Under the National Heritage Act, the minister in charge has the power to provide or issue policies, statements or directives in respect of any matter or conduct on the conservation and preservation of heritage.

Under Section 40, the Commissioner of Heritage is empowered to advise and coordinate with the local planning authority in safeguarding, promoting and dealing with a heritage site.