Only a month has passed since the temple-mosque dispute occurred in Kampung Rawa, Penang, but the situation in the state is ‘back to normal’.

Significantly, the vast majority of Penangites went about their daily lives without disruption even when the dispute peaked during the weekend of 27-29 March. On the evening of Sat ur day, 28 March, a huge open-air dinner organised by the MCA to encourage Malaysians to buy local products was held at the Esplanade.

Penangites, Politicians and Police

The clashes which took place resulted in several cases of injuries. Contrary to rumours, no death reportedly occurred; nor was any mosque or temple or property razed to the ground.  According to official figures, a total of 185 people were arrested ‘for rioting, illegal assembly and possession of dangerous weapons’. By 7 April, 146 of these had been released on bail, leaving 39 still detained. Despite a threat to use the Internal Security Act, the authorities have in fact not carried out that threat.

In short, the dispute was shortlived, not least because the majority of Penangites remained mature and responsible. At some point, after the incident had begun, Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Chief Minister Dr Koh Tsu Koon, Deputy Chief Minister and Penang UMNO deputy chief, Mohd Shariff Omar, and the Penang MIC chief, Dr K Rajapathy were able to stop their followers from getting involved in the dispute. Firm and impartial police action served to contain the incident just as it threatened to spread to other parts of the state.

The Need for a Public and Rational Discussion

This issue of Aliran Monthly devotes considerable space to the Kampung Rawa dispute. In our view, incidents like this must be discussed publicly and rationally. Only then can we combat the falsehood and wild rumours which were spread at the time of the incident.

In retrospect, the decision by the authorities and the media not to provide the public with ad e quate information only fuelled the rumour mills. Not until the weekend of 27-28 March were two press conferences held, the first by the Deputy Prime Minister, and the second by the In spec tor-General of Police.  Until then, the Penang Chief Minister had only issued two short press statements: on 23 March he announced that the temple ‘which was built and extended without permission from the authority and the landowner’ would be relocated with government assistance ‘to a suitable permanent site as soon as possible’, and on 25 March, when he of fi cial ly identified the new temple site and announced that transfer of the deities to the new site would occur before the morning of 27 March. To even non-partisan observers, the press state ments raised more questions than they answered.

The public has not only the right to an open and rational discussion of the dispute but the responsibility to draw lessons from it to ensure that ugly incidents like that do not recur.

Close Proximity?

Many people, including politicians, assume that the Kampong Rawa dispute resulted from the ‘close proximity’ between the Sri Raja Raja Mathuraiveeran Hindu temple and the Masjid Kampung Rawa. The two houses of worship were hardly 30 metres apart, although separated from each other by a row of old buildings. Other people assumed that the problem was caused by a failure on the part of the temple committee to abide by the rules and regulations gov ern ing the construction of religious building.

Following a meeting of 450 representatives from Hindu temples and organisations, held three weeks after the Kampong Rawa incident, MIC president, Samy Vellu announced the es tab lish ment of a Hindu Religious Co-ordinating Council, among other things, to ‘prevent the con struc tion of illegal temples’ by ‘determining the regulations which will have to be fulfilled before a temple is built’.

Presently, only about 2,000 of an estimated 18,000 Hindu temples in Malaysia are registered with the authorities.  But this large number of ‘illegally constructed’ temples, and thousands more places of worship of the other religions in a similar situation, had not caused religious discord before.

The proximity between different houses of worship, in and of itself, had not been a problem in the past. Going from one end of Jalan Pitt, Penang, to the other, for example, one comes across the Kapitan Kling mosque, the Sri Mariamman Hindu temple, the Kuan Yin temple, and the Anglican St George’s Church. All these four famous houses of worship have been part of Penang’s cultural and religious heritage.

Even in Kampung Rawa, the original mosque and the original temple had been in existence for more than 30 years. Only less than three years ago was a new mosque built to replace the old Kampung Rawa mosque, while the old Hindu shrine was rebuilt as a new temple in late 1997. If proximity between these two houses of worship was a problem, it only became so perhaps three months ago when consecration ceremonies for the new and enlarged temple somehow drew attention to its ‘proximity’ to the mosque.

The Troublesome Bells

The first ‘showdown’ between Hindus and Muslims in Kampung Rawa occurred on 20 March when 200-250 Muslims, mostly Indian Muslims, confronted a group of Hindu youths who were ringing bells in the temple at a time coinciding with the Muslim Friday prayers. Evidently, the temple bells had been rung during Muslim prayers the previous Friday which drew Muslim protest, but an assurance had been given that such would not happen again.

Hence some Muslims regarded the ringing of the temple bells on 20 March as a provocation. In that 20 March confrontation, verbal abuses and some stones were hurled, but an attempt by the Muslim crowd to rush towards the temple was foiled by a small group of policemen who formed a human chain across the lane leading towards the temple. A few of the policemen were injured but their chain held long enough for four truckloads of FRU police to arrive at the area.

On that day, 94 people, mostly Muslims, were arrested. The temple area was cordoned, while roadblocks were set up along streets leading to the neighbourhood. Starting from then, rumours about what had happened in Penang quickly spread, even via the internet, which featured some wild and misinformed postings about the incident.

Relocating the Temple

Over the next few days the Penang state government, the police, and the local temple and mosque committee members sought a solution to the problem.

On Monday morning, 23 March, a critical meeting was held in Komtar attended by the Chief Minister, the Chief Police Officer of Penang Abdul Hamid Mustapha, Dr Rajapathy, rep re sen ta tives of the Islamic Affairs Department, and related officials.

After the meeting, Dr Rajapathy and MIC’s former senator K Vijayanathan arrived at the Kampung Rawa temple site which was heavily guarded by police. Rajapathy explained to the temple committee members and other devotees present that the temple had to be moved as it was built without the Majlis Perbandaran Pulau Pinang’s approval.  The state government, he explained, would provide a new site for the temple, and in the process the status of the temple would be regularised. To prevent a worsening situation, the temple would also be sealed until time for its relocation. The discussion was emotional. Ultimately, the temple committee representatives agreed to the plans while the MIC leaders assured them that they would seek permission for aarti or prayers to be conducted at least once a day.

However, less than three hours after the discussion, the temple devotees got a shock when MPPP contractors, escorted by police, arrived and promptly sealed up the temple.  No door way was constructed, denying access to the temple completely. The temple grounds were also fenced up completely.

That same 23 March afternoon, Chief Minister Dr Koh issued a press statement announcing the planned relocation of the temple, the first official statement on the incident. The local media carried the statement and thus broke the week-long media blackout on the incident.

Protest at Komtar

Responding to the premature action of the MPPP in sealing the temple, thereby preventing any form of access for prayers, about 150 of the devotees and other Hindu sympathisers staged a protest at Komtar’s Level 3 concourse at about 3.00 pm the next day (24 March). In their midst was Chong Eng, the DAP’s Penang state assembly representative for Batu Lanchang (whose husband is a Hindu). They demanded to see the Chief Minister. But Chong Eng and a few others only succeeded in meeting the Chief Minister’s political secretary, Teng Chang Yeow, himself a state assembly representative.

The protest was peaceful. The police quickly dispersed this assembly without making any ar rest. In the process the police cordoned off several streets leading to Komtar, causing massive traffic jams in the vicinity. More rumours were spread.

On 25 March Wednesday, the Chief Minister issued a second statement. He announced that the Penang state government had decided to make available land in Jalan S P Chelliah (for mer ly Lines Road) just across Jalan Patani, for the relocation of the Kampung Rawa temple. The relocation, he further announced, would occur before 27 March morning. And he con clud ed that the matter had been resolved ‘in accordance with the Malaysian spirit’.

The relocation procession took place at midnight 26 March/27 March. As soon as the deities were transferred, the Kampung Rawa temple was demolished by the MPPP workers.

Ceremonies were conducted at the new temple site for several hours and lasted into the early morning. Not only had a huge crowd of Hindus gathered to join in the procession and the ceremonies, but many Muslims had congregated around the mosque, apparently to protect it against any attack. By this time both crowds were made up of Sungai Pinang area residents and outsiders. Emotions ran high, and the police who were present detained several persons.
 
Confrontation on 27 March

However, the episode took an ugly twist on 27 March. Rumours had been rife for several days that the Hindus and Muslims were calling for a show of force. The police had set up roadblocks on the Penang bridge and the entrance to the ferry in Seberang Perai to deter potential trou ble mak ers from coming over to Penang Island. Groups of non-Penangites, especially youths, were searched and some were even turned away.

The general Kampong Rawa area was also cordoned off. Nonetheless, at prayer time on Friday, 27 March, an estimated crowd of 5,000-7,000 people, instead of the usual 500-600 people, gathered at the Kampong Rawa mosque. This unprecedentedly large crowd, now made up of mostly Malay Muslims rather than Indian Muslims, spilled from the mosque grounds to the surrounding area. By word of mouth, via the internet, and by the circulation of pamphlets, Muslims had been urged to show up in force in Kampong Rawa at around 1.00 pm. They were led to fear that the Hindus would attack the mosque in retaliation for the demolition and re lo ca tion of their temple. One of the pamphlets called on Muslims to help the authorities prevent ‘Hindu mischief’.

There were leaflets distributed among Hindus, too, which called on them to show up in full force in the Sungai Pinang area to defend their temples and to help the authorities prevent ‘Muslim mischief’. It was claimed that if Hindus did not stand up for their rights in Sungai Pinang, those rights would be eroded elsewhere. A huge crowd of Hindus, their number being more difficult to estimate because they were dispersed over a larger area, were also present at Jalan S P Chelliah and Jalan Sungai (River Road), traditionally, the sites of working-class In di an residences.

After the Friday prayers, the large Muslim crowd surged out of the mosque and the mosque’s grounds to Jalan Patani itself. The two crowds exchanged taunts and threw stones at each other but did not engage in a direct clash, the police having placed themselves between the two crowds. For a while, the leaders of the Hindu and Muslim groups were able to hold their groups in check. But this did not last long.

The arrival of a helicopter hovering over the area created a sense of emergency. So too the presence of a water cannon truck and an ambulance. When the Muslim crowd began to move across the police line, the police gave warning to the crowd to disperse. Before there was time to do so, tear gas was fired and the water cannons used. Many rushed back into the mosque grounds. The police also began to arrest several of the Muslims, and then Hindus as well. A subsequent search of areas of both Muslim and Hindu concentration produced several molotov cocktails, parangs and other weapons. Later that day, the police arrested another 43 people, including many youths who had come from outside. By then a total of 137 people had been arrested.

The DPM Intervenes

Anwar Ibrahim arrived at the Jalan Patani police station at about 5.15 pm. He met with the Chief Minister, the deputy Chief Minister, the Penang MIC chief and the CPO. About half an hour later accompanied by the deputy Chief Minister, he headed for the Kampung Rawa mosque and met the mosque officials. Returning to the police station where the Chief Min is ter and others awaited, Anwar held a press conference at about 6.00 pm.  He announced that the matter had been settled. He blamed ‘outsiders’ for escalating a small local affair into a security-threat en ing incident and appealed to all to cooperate with the authorities. He also assured the public that the police would conduct its duty fairly but firmly.

Media coverage of Anwar Ibrahim’s press conference later showed Ahmad Johari Hamzah, the secretary of the mosque committee, shaking hands with P Nyanasegaran, the secretary of the temple committee, as a sign that the crisis was over.

At about midnight the Inspector-General of Police appeared on the scene. After meeting the politicians and his security chiefs, he visited the temple site with the Chief Minister and re turned to the police station where another press conference was held in the early hours of Sat ur day morning. He warned that the ISA would be used against trouble-makers.

Spillover

Despite the restored calm in Sungai Pinang, Anwar’s press conference, and the IGP’s visit, the problem was far from over. Too many outsiders were involved, too much emotion had been built up, and too many rumours had been circulating.

In the dark of 27 March night and 28 March early morning, many cases of violence occurred, eight of which took place in the north-east district of the island. At least seven isolated Hindu shrines and temples were attacked. The window panes of one mosque in Georgetown were broken. Also attacked were a few popular Indian Muslim foodstalls in Georgetown. The glass windows of Indian Muslim jewellery shops at Jalan Pitt were also shattered. Quite a few pro pri etors of shops and restaurants, fearful of attacks, boarded up their premises for the next few days.

There were reports of clashes between Hindu and Muslim youths, and there were rumours that the island’s hospitals were busily providing out-patient as well as in-patient treatment of people supposedly injured in these clashes. According to the Penang chief police officer, four people were still warded at the Penang Hospital on April 2, while 15 people had been dis charged. Another 13 people were arrested early 28 March.

More ominously, Hindu-Muslim clashes were rumoured to have spread to Seberang Perai, and even Kedah.

Penang stood on the brink of a curfew during the early hours of 28 March. The police, it seemed, had been stretched to the limit. The FRU and Police Field Forces, normally re spon si ble for handling violent incidents such as these, were carrying out Operasi Nyah Bersepadu -- the rounding-up and repatriation of illegal immigrants elsewhere in the country.

By dawn, on 28 March, however, an additional 600 police personnel arrived in Penang from Kulim and Ipoh. More police road blocks were set up. There were sporadic incidents during the night of 28 March, resulting in yet more arrests. But by Sunday, 29 March, order was fully restored.
 

Inter-Religious Council, Interfaith Dialogue and Spiritual Transformation
3-Point Strategy for Resolving Religious Differences Among Malaysians

Those were heady days in the Sungai Pinang area when groups of Penangites became emo öööööööööööötion al ly charged with religious sentiment, misinformed opinion of people of other faiths, and an overdose of alarmist rumours.
Since then there has been an uneasy calm. But the tragedy will be compounded if we do nothing to prevent a recurrence of the Kampung Rawa incident. The next time around the bells might toll for all of us.

What resposibilities should Malaysians jointly assume to prevent such a recurrence?

Believing that interreligious understanding and tolerance cannot always be guaranteed by gov ern ment or police action alone, but need to be sustained by an active, broad and positive public role, Aliran proposes a 3-Point Strategy to resolve future interreligious differences. This 3-Point Strategy contains immediate, medium-term and long-term solutions.

Short-Term Strategy: Inter-Religious Council

We must urgently create an Inter-Religious Council (IRC) bringing together representatives from all the
faiths practised in Malaysia. Such an IRC should have official sanction, and be backed by pow er and authority. The IRC should be autonomous and especially free of politicisation. The IRC should be different from the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hin du ism and Sikhism (MCCBCHS) which has no Muslim representation and is not of fi cial ly sanc tioned.

The proposed IRC should be an interfaith forum for discussing and suggesting solutions on such issues as the provision of sites for houses of worship (especially in large housing estates and new townships), allocations for burial grounds, the conduct of different religious cer e mo nies in a multireligious setting, religious conversions and mutual respect for the dietary ob ser vanc es associated with different faiths. The government should back the IRC by se ri ous ly con sid er ing the latter’s deliberations, proposals and decisions in its policy-making, planning and implementation.

Periodic, and certainly emergency, consultations by members of the IRC can go a long way towards minimising interreligious misunderstanding so as to nip potential problems -- such as that which occured in Kampung Rawa -- in the bud.  Or, if such incidents occur, there will at the very least be an established council of religious leaders, familiar with and respectful of one another, to refer to. These leaders are more likely to be able to persuade members of their own respective faiths to accept necessary solutions more speedily than proposals offered by pol i ti cians and government officials. The proposed IRC could establish a sub-council in each state.

Medium-Term Solution: Dialogue at All Levels

One very disheartening aspect of the Kampung Rawa incident was the dissemination of false hoods about ‘other religions’ and the intentions of their adherents. Too many Malaysians, it would seem, were only too easily persuaded by calls to hatred.

In principle, it is necessary to expose and demolish the stereotypes, prejudices and myths that Malaysians tend to hold of the religious beliefs and practices of those not belonging to their own faith. This can be achieved by holding dialogues between Malaysians of different faiths.

Three levels of dialogues may be conducted:

1. Dialogue at the the top-most level.
For the most part, this level of dialogue involves religious experts and theologians.  Some effort has been undertaken by groups like Ikim (Malaysian Institute of Islamic Un der stand ing) to promote exchange and mutual understanding between Islam and other religions, for example, on various aspects of modernity. Books and literature have been published about these di a logues.

The Islamic and Asian Civilisation course which will be compulsory for all students in in sti tu tions of higher learning in the country, if taught sensitively, can contribute to this dialogue. (For Aliran’s views on this course and its proposed contents, see Aliran Monthly vol. 17, no. 6).

2. Dialogue at the middle level.
Dialogues at this level may involve religious experts, too. More importantly, these dialogues seek to bring together ordinary people of all faiths who are actively involved in social work to discuss how the various religions view issues like protection of the environment, combatting corruption, political participation and freedom, women’s rights, the family, caring for the dis abled, and war and peace. As with other organisations, Aliran has organised such di a logues before.

During such dialogues, increasing numbers of Malaysians have discovered that all religions share a core of universal spiritual values. That we have not sufficiently built upon our ‘com mon al i ties’ has allowed religious bigots to highlight instead the ritualistic differences that sep a rate us one from the other. There should be many more such dialogues so that those myths, prejudices and stereotypes are exposed.

3. Dialogue at the individual level.
Most important of all, we need to conduct a dialogue of everyday life at the level of the in di vid u al. This dialogue has been on-going for generations and is within reach of all Ma lay sians. But in recent times, it has not been sufficiently promoted as a means for ordinary Malaysians of one faith to reach out to those of other religions. Often it is restricted to the symbolic if not superficial practice of the ‘open house’ held during festive times.

Yet, when we show respect and concern for others -- our neighbours, classmates, co-workers, students, fellow-drivers on the highway, accident victims, the old and needy, the marginalised and exploited -- especially if they belong to another ethnic community or religion (without hidden intentions), we in fact maintain a fundamental dialogue with them which breaks down barriers of communication and dispels many prejudices and stereotypes. From time to time, the ‘Heart to Heart’ column of Aliran Monthly highlights this dialogue of everyday life.

Long-Term Solution: Spiritual Transformation

There seems to be a need in all the religions for a genuine transformation of the meaning of faith and spirituality. Inter-faith communication and co-operation will not work until this trans for ma tion occurs within each of the religions in Malaysia.  This is the most demanding task of all. We require a total transformation of values, attitudes, relationships and structures within our re li gions, and the ways we practise our religions, so that our religions become forces for justice and peace. In other words, we must advocate a spirituality that is grounded in the real world and that addresses its attendant social problems.

Such a re-interpretation of spirituality that upholds the essence of our belief systems and ad dress es social reality will weaken the hold of the orthodox, conservative, and text-bound groups that tend to dominate every religion. As long as these groups dominate their respective re li gions, their influence will make it very difficult for people to get together. We need to transcend the boundaries of institutionalised religion to reach a spirituality that is grounded in the unity of all humankind, and in the ideal of justice for all.

The Penang Indian Dilemma

The Kampung Rawa incident will probably be remembered as a Hindu-Muslim clash. Cer tain ly centre stage of that unfortunate drama was occupied by Hindus and Muslims rallying around a temple and a mosque respectively.

But the incident began as a dispute involving Indian Muslims and Indian Hindus. Only later did it draw in other Muslims. The violence on the night of 27 March affected Hindu temples and Indian Muslim properties. Indeed, in the wake of the incident, ill feelings are still being felt in ‘Little India’, one of the oldest and culturally rich parts of Georgetown where several gen er a tions of ethnic Indians -- Hindu and Muslim -- have lived alongside one another.

Why and how did that long tradition of neighbourliness unravel so suddenly?

There seems to have been a connection between the Kampung Rawa incident and recent po lit i cal developments, especially the recent general election, in India. It has been said that some quarters have been distributing, among Indian Muslims, a videotape of recent attacks of Mus lim establishments by Hindu mobs in India. These Hindu mobs were allegedly associated with the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). (The BJP came to power in India in the recent election.) Unfortunately, the Penang-India connection could have been more insidious than the mere dis tri bu tion of a videotape.

The local press had reported that four Indian Muslim men from Penang were detained in India in March in connection with Hindu-Muslim clashes in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu (The Sun 1 April 1998). The four men were detained in Madras after several bombings had occurred in Coimbatore where several BJP leaders were scheduled to address the election rally there. A photograph of the four men (taken while they were detained with nine other suspected terrorists from the ‘Al-Ummah’ group) was published by the Tamil Nesan in Malaysia on 19 February. The local media have not carried further news of the four men since. But the various warnings issued by the authorities in Malaysia about the involvement of ‘outsiders’ or even ‘foreigners’ in the Kampung Rawa incident suggest that the police suspected a connection between the clashes and bombings in India and the dispute between Indian Hindus and Indian Muslims in Penang.

If there is a basis to these suspicions, they may explain why Hindu-Muslim tensions have been rising within the Indian community, at least in Penang, for some years now. In part, the tensions are related to politics in India which is regularly covered by the vernacular press in Malaysia. Additionally, there is a regular flow of Indians, both Hindus and Muslims, between India and Malaysia. Owing to difficulties in acquiring Malaysian citizenship, some Indians residing in Malaysia remain Indian nationals. A large proportion of this group of Indians resident in Penang was always made up of working class people who faced employment insecurities, housing prob lems, and other personal and social difficulties. Many could not afford to marry or to maintain a family.

This underlying situation, mostly unimproved over several decades, has created considerable frustration among Penang Indians, both Hindu and Muslim. As a way out of this situation, some Indian Muslims had begun to associate more closely with Malays to the extent of marrying Malays and even joining UMNO. Consequently, their children have acquired higher pro fi cien cy in Malay, adopted a Malay identity, and some have been able to acquire bumiputera status and privileges. Other members of the Indian community in Penang, es pe cial ly by comparison with other ethnic communities in Penang, remain poor -- marginalised by the local market economy, neglected by the government, and not even well represented by ethnic Indian politicians (wheth er from the MIC or UMNO).

The Kampung Rawa incident, the tensions in Little India, and the attention which Indians in Malaysia pay to politics in India are all signs of division and frustration within the Indian com mu ni ty. These have so split the Indian community that some underlying intra-communal sen ti ments of resentment and animosity erupted as interreligious differences.

If there is to be no repeat of Kampung Rawa, there must be official acknowledgement of this Penang Indian dilemma -- followed by meaningful solutions.