TEMPLE ATTACK THE FIRST ACT BY HIDDEN HANDS OUT TO CREATE RACIAL TENSIONS? AS TALK SWIRLS OF ‘HUGE NUMBERS’ OF ATTACKERS, COPS ADMIT TO ONLY ‘GROUP OF 50 INSIDE TEMPLE COMPOUND WITH OTHERS MONITORING OUTSIDE’: 738 FRU PERSONNEL DEPLOYED TO SCENE, SAYS POLICE CHIEF – EVEN AS STATE EXCO CALLS FOR PROBE INTO CONSPIRACY TO UPSET RACIAL HARMONY

The fighting at the Seafield Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in USJ 25, Subang Jaya earlier this morning erupted after a heated exchange between devotees and a group of 50 people, police said.

“Our initial findings found that there were 50 men in the temple compound, while there were others monitoring the area outside the temple gate.

“The two groups traded insults and dares, after which there was a clash between the two sides,” Selangor police chief Mazlan Mansor said at a press conference today.

He said after the clashes the group of 50 fled from the temple. Two of them were injured.

In the scuffles, he said 18 vehicles includingg two motorbikes were also torched. Damage at the temple was, however, minimal he said.

Mazlan said police also found weapons including machetes at the scene.

“I warn everyone to be calm, and leave this matter to the police.

“Don’t take the law into your own hands. We are here to protect the situation,” he said. As of noon, seven suspects have been arrested in connection to the incident, he added. 

According to Mazlan, 738 Federal Reserve Unit officers were dispatched to the scene after police were alerted to the fighting, and the case is being investigated for trespassing, rioting, and treachery.

Mazlan added it was too early to say what the motive of the men intruding the temple was.

Probe for racial provocation

Meanwhile, a Selangor exco member also called on police to investigate an alleged attemp to create racial tensions in the temple flare-up.

“The attack by a group of gangsters shows there are attempts to create disharmony among races who have been living peacefully all these while,” V Ganabatirau, the Selangor Socio-Economic Empowerment and Development and Caring Government Committee Exco member said in a statement today.

“I urge police to investigate thoroughly on this incident and provide necessary protection to the civilians in accordance with Article 11 of our Constitution,” he added.

Article 11 enshrines freedom of religion in Malaysia.

Devotees had reportedly gathered at the temple to protect it from demolition when they were met by the outside group.

The temple was supposed to have been relocated on Nov 22.

Plans to relocate the temple have been ongoing since 2007, after the land it is located on was purchased by One City Development Sdn Bhd.

In 2014, a consent judgment was entered into in court, where One City and two rival camps vying for control of the temple agreed to relocate it to a plot of land three kilometres away.

One City had also donated RM1.5 million to the temple as part of the settlement agreement.

However, devotees have continued to resist efforts to relocate the temple, which was built in 1891.

MKINI