MIC chief tells Hindus to stop 'humiliating Gods' in temple land issue

 

MIC president SA Vigneswaran has issued a reminder to Hindus in the country over the construction of their temples, noting that any new structure should not be put at risk of being demolished due to disputed land status.

Vigneswaran in his policy speech at the 74th MIC Annual General Assembly said issues surrounding the site of Hindu temples should not be a dividing factor between the Indian community and others.

"This matter needs to be resolved. For the future of temples, we cannot humiliate our Gods by getting them broken.

"Who is humiliating them? We are, because we are not following procedures (in construction) and then blame others for it," he said.

"This issue needs to be resolved once and for all. The younger generation should not be facing this problem.

"To be fair, even in India we don't have a statue as big as the Lord Muruga here," he added.

The Hindu community, Vigneswaran said, should stop building temples without consideration for the land status, and later expect assistance when faced with problems that often led to a demolition or forced removal.

"Let's not be fundamentalists. It (Malaysia) is a beautiful country.

"We want the problem settled and all of us need to resolve it," said the former Dewan Negara speaker, adding that MIC will gather all Indian political parties to come up with a comprehensive solution to the issue.

'Problems with PAS'

In his speech, Vigneswaran also touched on MIC's ties with PAS, alluding to the Perikatan Nasional party's broken promise to not destroy Hindu temples in PAS-led states.

"I hope the Kedah government will take steps to ensure that before any drastic action is taken, give us a chance to resolve the temple issue, so that ties between the state government and MIC will not be affected," he said.

Last December, PAS president Abdul Hadi Awang had reportedly defended the Kedah government’s demolition of a Hindu temple in Taman Bersatu, Kuala Kedah.

At the time, MIC deputy president M Saravanan reportedly accused Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor of breaking a promise to inform him if any temples were to be demolished in the state.

Meanwhile, Vigneswaran also raised concerns over PAS' plans to push for a new law against the propagation of religions aside from Islam, as well as the call to create more Malay-Muslim majority seats through a redelineation exercise.

"Once again, this (creation of new seats) proves that in the political game based on realpolitic, PAS is only out to fulfil its party objective to establish an Islamic state," he said.

His reminder to the Hindu community, as well as speaking out against alleged hardline views, also came amid a backdrop of heightened religious tension in neighbouring Indonesia after two separate terrorist-linked attacks on a Catholic church and its national police headquarters. - Mkini