PETALING JAYA, SEPT 10-PKR vice president N Surendran yesterday criticised Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Mansor for claiming that the Sri Muneeswarar Kaliamman Temple in Jalan P Ramlee is a mere shrine and not a temple.
“I am shocked at the contemptuous manner in which Tengku Adnan referred to the 101-year-old temple,” he said.
The temple is embroiled in a dispute with the KL City Hall (DBKL) and a developer over the land it is sited on now. The land in the heart of the city has been earmarked for development, with the temple being forced to move out.
Earlier yesterday, Tengku Adnan was reported as saying that the Sri Muneeswarar Kaliamman temple was a mere shrine and not a temple. He also said that holy place will only be identified as a “shrine” and would not be given the entire land which it currently sits on.
The Putrajaya MP also warned MIC Youth not to politicise the issue for their own political mileage.
Training his guns against the minister, Surendran said that Tengku Adnan should not conveniently categorise the holy place a mere shrine when the latter was not an expert in Hindu religious buildings.
He also said that even if the place was a shrine, the area was still a sacred centre for Hindus.
“And Tengku Adnan’s claim that only an illegal canteen was demolished (last week) is also false. Three shrines within the temple area were smashed, and the deities forcibly and sacrilegiously removed by plainclothes DBKL personnel,” said Surendran.
The Padang Serai MP called upon Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to sack Tengku Adnan from his post for insulting the Hindus.
“We also demand that the ongoing construction works on the temple land be stopped immediately, and the seized land be returned to the temple management,” added Surendran.
On related matter, MIC Youth secretary C Sivaraajah defended the party’s stand on the matter, saying it was their duty to voice out against temple demolitions.
“We don’t gain any political mileage from this as alleged by Tengku Adnan. We were angry when the DBKL officers entered the temple with their boots and smoked cigarettes in the temple compound,” he said.
Sivaraajh also reminded the government that Barisan Nasional lost its popularity among Indians in 2008 general election due to the Padang Jawa temple demolition fiasco in 2007.
“We don’t want this to happen again or else the Indian community will lose confidence on BN,” he said.
MIC Youth chief T Mohan resonated Sivaraajh’s sentiment, saying that since it involved the Indian community, the MIC would not bow to Tengku Adnan’s threat.
“We will go all out to settle the temple problem and will not allow Tengku Adnan’s statement to cower us,” Mohan said.
