Sale of 100-year-old ashram to fund education, trust chairman tells critics

The Vivekananda Ashramam in Brickfields runs yoga and religious classes but also needs plenty of funds to maintain four schools. – The Malaysian Insider pic by Afif Abd Halim, October 26, 2014.

With opposition mounting against plans to redevelop the Vivekananda Ashramam in Brickfields through a Facebook page, the ashram's board of trustees’ chairman said critics should be giving donations to support their charity work rather than protest against plans to sell the land.

Tan Sri Dr K. Ampikaipakan in a recent interview on BFM radio said the board of trustees had decided to sell and redevelop the 0.4ha plot of land because it needed funds for the schools and charities under its care.

"I must say I am disappointed with all the people who are protesting today, at least tell me that they have dropped a ringgit for the welfare of the students,” he told BFM radio's "The Bigger Picture" on October 20.

A Facebook page to protest against the redevelopment of the Vivekananda Ashramam in Brickfields has gathered more than 6,700 likes in a week, since it was set up on October 18.

The page was created following a newspaper report on the plans to build a 23-storey apartment tower on the land.

The facade of the ashram, believed to be more than 100 years old, and a bronze statue of Swami Vivekananda, however, would be preserved for heritage purposes.

The redevelopment plans have called into question the issue of striking a balance between heritage conservation and funding of community needs, as the trust owns and manages four schools – SJK (T) Vivekananda, Brickfields, the Vivekananda primary and secondary schools in Kuala Lumpur and SJK (T) Thamboosamy Pillai in Sentul.

The ashram's followers opened their first Tamil school in 1914, before launching other schools, a hostel and kindergarten for the Tamil community over the years.

Dr Ampikaipakan told BFM radio the money obtained from the sale of land and the redevelopment project, which would be a joint venture with a developer, would not only be able to maintain the current schools but could build and do more for children in the future.

He had also said the trust had always focused on providing education and it wanted to develop more programmes, including providing food and scholarships for poor children.

"Yoga and religion will not treat a man's hunger and you can't preach religion to a hungry man," he had said in the newspaper report.

The trust depended on donations to conduct its charity work, and Dr Ampikaipakan said it was disappointing that detractors had chosen to criticise the development plans rather than  send donations.

He told BFM radio the trust took great care when deliberating the redevelopment plan.

"After very careful thought and planning and not wanting to hurt anybody, we said we will retain the building in its original form and build above and around it to get sufficient money to run the four schools and do all the charity we want,” he said.

- TMI