Written by lainie at 07:24 PM on April 26, 2006 in Rants.

I got this message just now:

There's gonna be a group there tomorrow to show solidarity with the devotees. If you are interested, the gathering will start at 8.00 am at the temple complex :

Kuil Sri Mahariamman
No.3, Jalan 11/2F
Seksyen 11, Jalan Tarian
Shah Alam

Read on to know what it's about.

====

And now, after whining about how preachy Gubra was (and even how preachy ROJAK! was) I will proceed to preach at your asses. I'm such a champ, I know.

Well. Actually, I'm not gonna preach - I'm gonna ask a question. Does anyone know what the heck is up with all the Hindu temples in Malaysia getting demolished? Cause really, nothing to preach, as if I need to point out much that you cannot figure out. I can supply CnP and links though.

If this is the first time you're hearing about this, and you consider yourself generally quite decently informed, then it's quite bad lah, cause I have no idea what's happening - a temple with 10,000 devotees weekly, and I had no idea :/.

Read on, read on. Fucking sickening.

The devotees were in complete shock when the authorities gave us 15 minutes to leave the place or else we would be arrested for public disorder. All the devotees pleaded and most of them were in tears trying to persuade and beg the Police and DBKL enforcement officers from demolishing our temple. Our pleas fell into deaf ears as the Police threatened to use high handed tactics (arrest) if we don't leave the premises.

Mr.Arumugam our Treasurer immediately contacted our Lawyer Mr.Uthayakumar who had requested to speak to the Head of the enforcement unit at the site but the officer refused to speak to our lawyer. Mr.Uthayakumar then asked us to inform the officer to hold on until he arrives as he was attending to a matter at the Shah Alam Session Court but that too fell onto deaf ears. We even pleaded for a one(1) day halt to the demolishment but our pleas were ignored when they started tearing the temple and defiling the 90 steps leading to the temple which was situated on a hill top more that 300 feet hill.

We were forced to stop our prayers and yagam (fire ritual) half way as they proceeded to tear down the temple and demolish temple structures. Our lives were in serious danger as their violent demolishment of the temple using excavators, bulldozers and other heavy machines was a threat to us as we risked being bulldozed from the hilltop ourselves. We could have also fallen more than 300 feet to the ground. Senior citizens and children slipped in the mud which was caused by the defiling of the 90 steps leading to the hilltop temple.

Persistent begging by some senior citizens who were in tears and horrified by the inhumane acts of the authorities saw some fruits when the officers assured us that they will not deface the deities but the buildings and structures. However when they completed their mission of "cleansing the temple" which took about 1 ½ hours, they told us that they will come back in 3 days to demolish and destroy/deface the deities if we don't do it ourselves.

PoliceWatch Malaysia (which also has photos).

Malaysian authorities have demolished a century-old Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, bulldozing the building as devotees cried and begged them to stop, Hindu groups said today.

Outlook India.

Well, online there are some info, but mostly, it's been creepily quiet even on the internet. Print? Not any news that I've encountered. Only very few blogs / journals I've been visiting have any information regarding this. I mean, I've come across heaps of complaints from churches, but temples is a bit new for me.

I find it strange that I have so many Hindu friends, and even Sikh friends (though that's gurdwara, not temple, but they call it temple anyway so...wait where was I?), and they can be total whine gardens yeah, but I didn't hear this from them first. Actually, they had no idea what the heck I was askin about. And my friends, the very few who occasionally flip through the newspapers, didn't know about it either.

So here's the thing. That temple is not the first to be demolished. This is a letter about another Hindu temple that was demolished the past month:

Therefore the Government must find a permanent solution instead of continuously demolishing temples and shrines in thousands belonging to Non-Muslims.

This illegal act of demolishment is well within the knowledge of the Government and the relevant authorities. Why there were no immediate steps and/or actions taken to halt the demolishment?

Under "Latest Hindu Temple demolished by DBKL" article in PoliceWatch Malaysia (for some reason direct linking doesn't work very well on this site for me, so if it's the same for you, then try the "Freedom of Religion" button on the left side of the main page, which should bring up enough relevant pages.

And here's the scarier thing (okaylah, actually the whole thing in itself is quite scary and disgusting but yknow) - they're not stopping there. Ready for more?

I have been receiving far too many telephone calls from very upset Hindus who are alleging that another more than 100 year old temple is about to be demolished - this time in Section 11 in Shah Alam Selangor!

As usual the USJ forums picked up on this.

So yes, that's what the top of my post is about. So officially, that's:

Please gather and show support / oppose at 8.00 a.m on 26-4-2006 at :

Kuil Sri Mahamariamman,
No.3, Jalan 11/2F,
Seksyen 11, Jalan Tarian,
Shah Alam.

For logistics - if you are coming from either the Federal Highway or from Klang you must take the road up the massive round-a-bout towards the Selangor Istana on your left with Tesco on your right.

Facing you 100 meters is another round-a-bout - the 'Kayangan Round-a-bout' where certain contractors made a lot of money!

Take 12 clock (straight) and 80 meters from that round-a-bout is a Mobil on your left- take left there before Mobil and turn again left 20 meters later - go straight you will see on your RIGHT on the hill the 100 year old:


Oh and I just found out JeffOoi's blogged about it. Veeery briefly. Well, there you go then.

It's so bloody disrespectful. That's a frickin temple! A place of worship. You don't do crap like that to a temple, what kinda nonsense is this? Fucking pisses the fuck out of me to read about stuff like that.

[ "However, he said the city hall decided to defer the demolition exercise for another four weeks to allow the temple committee to sort out their appeals with the relevant authorities.

......

A DBSA notice dated April 14 was sent to the temple to inform temple caretakers that the DBSA would be demolishing the squatter building within seven days, as required under the law. " ]

MalaysiaKini has a report saying that the temple will not be demolished for another 4 weeks, that it's only the walls around it. Squatter building. Squatter building. That's nice.

I take back what I said against the preach in Gubra. Some people need messages hammered into their heads much as they can.

=====

More Lainie's Laptop Is A Dying Piece of Junk Stories.

By the way - I am now deprived of the internet at home yet again. Curses, pah! Pahh! I'd been absorbed in my typography work and didn't realise it was raining, till the first lightning struck. Normally I'd disconnect if I hear lightning, but as luck would have it, the first one killed my modem.

I'm such a dumbass, I know. But I can't help it, I have the worst attention span ever, can't focus on anything for nuts, but the moment I get into something, I have absolutely no attention for anything but what I'm concentrating on. Also, a huge reserve of irritation to lash out at anyone who breaks my stride, so now I'm kinda frustrated.

Now everytime I plug in the USB LAN thing, it gives me some "USB has exceeded power allocated / power surge" message. :/ :/ :/ Can anyone tell me what I have to do about this? Guhhhnn. I hate all these computer stuff. You know why this is a teensy bit bad? It's FUCKING HORRIBLE because I have to email my lecturers most of the time / do research online. Fuck FUCK FUCK FUCK FUCK AUUUGHH!!

And even the mouse I use is dying. It flickers occasionally then...just...dies. But I'm getting used to that. I think.

This is so inconvenient it's hideous. And I happen to know I actually have stuff to do lined for every night all the way till middle of May.

It's bad enough I never write anything down (low attention span + lazy = bad at organising) and just kinda hope that whoever I have an appointment with has my email address / chat account. Now I have to hope not only do they read my blog and know I won't be online, they actually have my phone number too.

Feck, I think I'm gonna be pissin off a load of people this month. And I have two birthday dinners lined up for the 30th. Wonderful.

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