why were hindu temples being destroyed?

it happened again – the latest incident on 8 june, a 60 years old hindu temple in setapak was destroyed by the local council (DBKL).enough is enough, cried gerakan youth and they came up with a statement to slam the demolition (or read here).

“We strongly believe that the local authorities have blatant disrespect for other religions in this country and for violating the Federal Constitution by their disrespectful manner in which places of worship have been demolished,” its deputy chief S Paranjothy said in a strongly worded statement.

in the meantime, hindu groups in malaysia had appealed to indian rights group and the united nations to help preserve their heritage as they claimed that temples in malaysia are under threat (or read here), as in every 3 weeks, at least one hindu temple had been destroyed at federal, state and local level.

why were these temples being destroyed i wonder? at the latest incident, it was said that the temple had receieved notice from DBKL, that they need to demolish the temple to make way for the duta hulu-kelang expressway, but they were unable to come up with a solution. the highway developer did offered them a piece of land but it was only 10 ft x 10 ft, which according to the temple priest, p. sivalingam, is only enough for a toilet to be build!

well i felt that if the temples were built without approval and DBKL did served them notices, then i guess DBKL had the right to demolish the temples (after mutual agreement on the compensation). however what i find strange was that most of the temples destroyed were very old temples, like the latest was 30 years old and in april we learned of one over 100 years old temple being destroyed – if they were build without approval, why wait till so many years to issue them notice? granted that the authorities might not want to use the land where the temples were but if they were build without approval, they… er…. how can this be? ‘without approval’ means they should not be built at all – does this means at that time the authorities closed one eye?

well i would rather like to think that these temples were legally constructed, and i would rather like to think that whether legal or not, the authorities should be more sensitive when it comes to the destruction of the temples.

although i may not agree to the destruction, i’m not sure if i agree to the idea of the hindu groups in our country appealing to international help. no rights group here in malaysia can help them out? what about the semi value guy? good lord!! do i have to ask that!!! i’m sure he doesn’t care a hoot about temples being destroyed. who knows ah… afterwards when you ask his opinion, he might say “god builds, god destroys”. lol.