KUALA LUMPUR: The developer who wants the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman temple in Subang Jaya relocated today denied that it had hired thugs to create trouble at the temple.
In a two-paragraph statement, One City Development said it did not authorise anyone to “hire thugs” to “initiate a riot” at the temple in Subang Jaya, Selangor, “as mentioned in recent news reports”.
“The personnel onsite were directed to provide logistical support and assist in the orderly relocation under police watch. It continues to cooperate with the police authorities in the investigation of the incident,” it added.
The statement follows another by Home Minister Muhyiddin Yassin that police investigations showed the involvement of “a group of Malays hired by the company which owned the temple land” in the violence on Monday.
Muhyiddin said police discovered that the lawyer for One City Development, which was to take back its land following a consent judgment in 2014, had paid the guards RM150,000 to “control” the situation at the temple on Monday, when an attack by an unknown mob led to follow-up violence the next day.
“Around 50 people were hired for this and they were each paid between around RM150 and RM300.”
The minister said the actions of this group had “provoked the Hindus in the area, leading to chaos and the destruction of property”.
Muhyiddin said the authorities had yet to determine if the lawyer was acting on the instructions of the developer or on his own volition.
“Our assumption is that he is a lawyer representing One City and he was given the money. I don’t believe the lawyer is so generous to give money to these people.
“There has to be a connection to the efforts to take control of the land. But the action of the lawyer was what caused all this. It is not right,” he added.
Two lawyers representing the developer are among 21 people detained by police to assist in investigations linked to the incident.- FMT
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