KLANG: Kapar Member of Parliament S. Manickavasagam has threatened to quit as the Selangor PKR liaison committee deputy chairman if no action is taken against the council officers involved in the demolition of a Hindu temple in Ampang, while about 100 MIC members demonstrated over the issue.
Manickavasagam, who is also a PKR supreme council member, said he might quit the party altogether if he was not satisfied with the action taken by the state government to punish those responsible for the destruction of the Sri Mahakaliaman temple.
He said action should be taken against the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) president, its enforcement chief and the other officers involved, as the matter was never brought to the state government’s attention.
“I feel action must be taken especially against those directly involved in the demolition as this is a serious violation,” he said when contacted on Monday.
Rumours had been rife that Manickavasagam had already resigned as deputy chairman and PKR member following a report in a Tamil daily.
Selangor local government, study and research committee chairman Ronnie Liu was reported last week as saying that the MPAJ officers had acted against a state government directive not destroy places of worship.
He had said after Pakatan Rakyat opposition alliance took over the state an order was issued to all local councils to cease all such actions against places of worship.
Manickavasagam meanwhile asked MIC and its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu not to make a big issue out of the temple demolition as neither the Barisan Nasional component party nor its leaders acted when about 80 temples were demolished during Barisan’s administration of the state.
In SHAH ALAM, more than 100 representatives from MIC and Indian non-governmental organisations gathered at the main gate of the Selangor secretariat building on Monday morning to protest the demolition.
Organiser T. Mohan, who is MIC Youth chief, handed a memorandum to Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim’s political secretary, Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad.
According to the state government, the 19-year-old temple near Kampung Tasek Tambahan was built on a forest reserve. It is learnt that the temple was destroyed and rebuilt at the same location a few times between 2002 and 2007.
When asked why MIC did not address the issue then, Mohan said the party had taken action and that was why the temple was rebuilt.
“There are so many temples without permit, that is a fact, we know it, but you (the state government) have promised not tear down any temples.
“I can tell you 50% to 60% of temples in the country don’t have proper permits and the (temple) committees may have not have been registered too, but that doesn’t mean you can tear down their temples,” he said.
Mohan also claimed that MIC had always fought against the demolition of temples, citing as an example the party’s protest to former Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Dr Mohd Khir Toyo when seven or eight temples in Puchong were demolished, including a controversial one in Padang Jawa, just before the March 8 general election.
Samy Vellu and Dr Khir became embroiled in a war of words, with the Umno man claiming that the demolition of the temple had been the MIC chief’s idea.
DHARMENDER SINGH and CHRISTINA TAN
Star Online
29/09/08
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