MP vows to save Vivekananda Ashram against all odds

M Kula Segaran says the ashram’s board members shouldn't be so adamant in fighting against having the building preserved as a heritage site.

KUALA LUMPUR: DAP MP M Kula Segaran today promised that he would fight till the end to preserve the Vivekananda Ashram in Brickfields here as a heritage site.

The Ipoh Barat parliamentarian said he was ever ready to work closely with Culture and Tourism Minister Nazri Abdul Aziz and others committed to the cause to achieve his goal.

He planned to raise the issue in Parliament soon in the wake of a decision by the board of trustees of Vivekananda Ashram to reject the Federal Government’s proposal to designate the ashram as a heritage site under Section 27(2) of the National Heritage Act.

It’s learnt that the government cannot automatically gazette the historical icon as a heritage site without the board’s approval.

“Why must the board be so adamant and fight against the wishes of the local community to have the building preserved?

“The fight for Vivekananda Ashram to be preserved as a heritage site shall continue,” vowed Kula, also the DAP national vice-chairman.

The board of trustees has planned to redevelop the ashram into a multi story condominium.

The local Indian community has however held a signature campaign and demonstrations opposing the redevelopment plan.

Urged by the community, Nazri visited the site and agreed to gazette the ashram as a heritage site.

Later Nazri announced in Parliament that notices would be issued to the trustees to agree voluntarily for the preservation of the ashram.

The ashram is an icon of early Indian settlement, business and cultural growth in the capital city.

The ashram was named after the 19th century Hindu philosophical guru Swami Vivekananda, who was born in Kolkata as Narendranath Datta on January 12, 1863.

Vivekananda became famous as an “Orator by Divine Right” and as a “Messenger of Indian Wisdom to the Western World”, after his speeches at the World’s Parliament of Religions held in September, 1893 in Chicago, America.

Following its rejection of the Federal Government’s heritage proposal, Kula wants the board to clarify, among others:

1) The need to turn the whole site into a commercial area especially when it goes against the teachings of Vivekananda, who himself said: “Character has to be established through a thousand stumbles.” Thus an icon like the ashram built over 110 years is irreplaceable.

2) Why the trustees, who are custodians of public property, failed to consult the local community and leaders of the proposed development?

3) Who will financially benefit from this proposed development?

4) Why the trustees failed to explain the need to raise monies from the redevelopment.