By Zaid Malek
I refer to the statement by Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on 21 March on the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple in Jalan Masjid India, which is being pressured to relocate to a yet unidentified site, to enable a “Madani Mosque” to be built on the site.
Anwar claimed the temple is on private land, that it hax no permission and that it is not legal, and that he will proceed to officiate the ground-breaking ceremony for the mosque on 27 March.
This displays serious ignorance of the history, facts and circumstances around the temple issue.
Let me say at the outset, what is the rush for Anwar to carry out the ground- breaking ceremony on 27 March, when the discussions between the temple and Kuala Lumpur City Hall are still ongoing? Why is Anwar not prepared to give the necessary space and time for that process to be carried out?
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Second, it is unacceptable that Anwar thinks it is appropriate for a temple to be removed, so that a mosque can be built on its site. Is this the position for a ‘reformist’ prime minister to adopt? Is this consistent with the national interest of a multi-religious and multicultural country like ours?
Third, Anwar’s claim that the temple was built ‘without permission’ is factually wrong. The temple moved to the current location, a few hundred feet from the original location, upon the instruction of Kuala Lumpur City Hall in 2008 and with its written permission.
In other words, it was the government that asked the temple to build their structure on the current land. This being so, it is sheer dishonesty for Anwar now to suggest that the temple was built without permission.
Fourth, Anwar’s claim that the temple is “not legal” is plain wrong and ignorant. How can it be “not legal” when it was built upon the instruction of the local authority?
To brand a place of worship that has served the local community for over a century as “not legal” is deeply disrespectful to devotees of the temple and the Hindu community at large, and displays a surprising lack of regard on the part of a sitting PM.
The Selangor government has had a policy since 2008 to regularise the status of long-existing temples; why is the federal government having a different policy?
Fifth, Anwar has claimed that, as prime minister, he could not imagine demolishing a temple. But if that is true, then why is Anwar insisting that this temple be relocated?
Does Anwar not realise that the temple would have to be demolished first in order to relocate it elsewhere? The temple is not a car that can be driven from place to place. Relocation is the equivalent of demolition. To relocate, it must be demolished first to be rebuilt elsewhere.
Sixth, Anwar’s claim that the land on which the temple is located is private land blatantly ignores the facts. The land was not private land when the temple was forced to move to it in 2008. The land only became private land when the government sold it to the private company in 2014, six years after the temple had been on it, without informing the temple.
Anwar, Kuala Lumpur City Hall and government leaders must stop painting a false picture that the temple was built without permission on private land.
Seventh, it was premature and high-handed for Anwar to say on 21 March that “the mosque will be built on the temple site and that the temple will move”.
This is tantamount to an ultimatum to the temple before ongoing discussions are completed. The matter is now under discussion between the temple and city hall pursuant to Mayor Maimunah Mohd Sharif’s hand-delivered letter to the temple committee on 20 March.
You cannot call it a negotiation when one party is given no choice. It is not for Anwar to ignore this process and decide the matter unilaterally. That would be dictatorial and contrary to good governance.
Finally, we say the solution is to let the temple remain in place and let the mosque be built on the vacant land next to it. All right-thinking people will support this. If Anwar claims to be PM for everyone in Malaysia, this is the solution he must support.
Zaid Malek is director of Lawyers for Liberty.
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