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If Angkor Wat was here it might be torn down, too
Published:  Nov 11, 2013 8:42 AM
Updated: 2:59 AM

YOURSAY 'We have no choice; promises to the wealthy must be fulfilled. As for the poor, whether it is 100-years-old or 1,000, the temple has got to go.'

First a wall, now DBKL takes on main temple

your say, YoursayNordin Kadir How cruel can the authorities be (to demolish part of the 101-old Sri Muneswarar temple in Kuala Lumpur)? Places of worship should not be trampled upon merely for the sake of development and money. Islam forbids this. Salam

Jean Pierre: 50 cops watching a temple demolition? Well done.

Freethinker: It seems that now PDRM works for wealthy developers. PDRM, whose task is to protect the citizens' rights has become a tool of the aggressors.

Anonymous #25558299: BN chief and PM Najib Razak has shown his nambikei (trust) to the Indians. Good show for the Indian MPs who support them. Anyway, just wait to see if the lord Sri Muneswarar can do something to show his power to the ruling elite.

Siang Malam: Najib's nambikei? Never trust someone like Najib, he doesn't even know what's happening around him.

Senior: Might is right, and the government need not mean what they say.

Fair Play: Taking the emotion out of the discussion, this incident is reminiscent of the Kampung Buah Pala incident in Penang involving settlement in disputed land. By and large, Hindu temples are located on disputed land and naturally the authorities would apply all the might to claim what they believe is theirs, never mind the historical or the heritage perspective.

Chinese temples are seldom subjected to such drastic actions by the authorities because they own the land and could take the matter to court. At this stage, any action by the temple authorities or the opposition MPs is a futile effort.

The rakyat might want to ask the PM what sort of 'national reconciliation' he is talking about when the right hand (the political powers) does not know what the left hand (the relevant authorities) is doing.

And I wonder why the deafening silence from those hand-kissing, apple polishing but 'fearless' Indian leaders and freedom fighters who claim to speak for their community.

YUNoAnon: You can go and say whatever you want now. To them, they have got what they wanted, which is to destroy the structures and get the land. Whatever you go and say to them now will be like talking to a brick wall, only you will talk, while they will just ignore you.

Anonymous_40f4: Before the GE, it seems Najib assured that the temple land would be gazetted. He lied in accusing the Selangor Pakatan government of demolishing seven temples. After the GE, BN and Najib go round demolishing temples.

Rakyat didahulukan, or crony Hap Seng didahulukan?

It is similar to the Kg Buah Pala BN scam where the land was secretly sold to private developer by the BN government.

Anonymous #01428088: Where are the Indian NGOs who supported Perkasa? Do they support this?

Basically: Perkasa and its Indian clones were holding hands singing 'kumbaya' just the previous night, and now this? I guess the Perinnbam chief would say, "Never mind, we have too many temples anyway. 1Malaysia boleh ma."

And I think some cynics forget that BN did not exist when this temple was built, just like the Kg Hakka Chinese new village in Mantin, that developers are also trying to tear down.

So it's pretty callous to say the Indians built the temple anywhere they liked, it's not as if the developer already had plans for the place 100 years ago.

And it's not as if 100 years ago the Indians could apply to DBKL to get the land for a temple, not that they would have gotten it anyway, even then.

Vijay47: The book 'Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee' by Dee Brown is a sad unbearably painful record of the American Red Indians in the face of the steady inevitable colonisation of their lands by the White Man.

Despite continuous treachery by the intruders, the natives still respected and honoured every agreement they made. And every agreement was callously broken by the White Man.

Everything precious to the Red Indians, their land, their animals, their culture and their very means of survival was either destroyed or stolen from them and they had to suffer the final humiliation of being imprisoned in reservations.

In a land so distant from the rolling prairies and mountains, the same betrayal is being displayed by Kuala Lumpur. where word or pledge means nothing.

The lesson here is that the Indian, red black or green, cannot trust those who rule them. And the second obvious fact is that it is not only the White Man who speaks with forked tongue.

Ferdtan: Remember the poem former PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad recited during the Umno general assembly in 2001 entitled 'Melayu Mudah Lupa'? (Malays forget easily).

Kuala Lumpur City Hall, acting on behalf of the developer, obviously with a nod from its Umno leaders to commit such rash acts of tearing down part of the Indian temple, must be confident enough that the Indians also forget easily - like the Malays Mahathir was alluding to previously.

It is still a long way to the next general election. When nearing the next general election, just throw a few crumbs to some self-appointed Indian leaders and all will be forgotten and forgiven.

Possibly as an added bonus, another Hindraf leader, (this time the other brother of the deputy minister P Waythamoorty perhaps) be appointed a full minister?

Then he may repeat the unbecoming act of summoning the opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim, as an excuse to join BN to come down to his rally to offer promises to the Indians. I have met many young, especially educated Indians, who are already against BN, but we need more of them to change.

Aren't the rest of the Indians angry enough to dump BN once and for all? Don't be suckers - change and stand up and be counted. That includes all present BN supporters of all races.

Anonymous #039163649: Waytha is just like former MIC chief Samy Vellu. Waytha makes heroic statements and demands, which BN does not entertain. So Waytha wins the Indian support of BN for projecting the image of a heroic defender of Indian welfare, who actually achieves almost nothing.

It was exactly like Samy Vellu, who failed to perform. He demanded more low cost houses, more places in the civil service and universities and for all Tamil schools to be made national schools, but nobody paid heed to him and the Indians got no benefits while he was MIC chief.

Umno BN of course made a show of condemning Samy had he stepped out of line, as they do now with Waytha, but actually Umno was happy with Samy previously and Waytha now, for securing them the Indian votes while giving nothing to the Indians.

It was the Samy Vellu's game all the while, only now it is the same just with a different actor, the younger Waytha.

Harapanbaru: Those who mindlessly follow malicious, oppressive orders from greed-driven demon-possessed mis-leaders will one day realise they have mortgaged their souls to oblivion. Dust to dust for them, nothing beyond.

Headhunter: Another clear example of Najib's 1Malaysia being a farce. Endless possibilities indeed. This is what the Indians get for being the BN's most loyal supporters.

CiViC We have no choice, as promises to the wealthy (developer) must be fulfilled. As for the poor, regardless if the temple is 100 years old or 1,000 years old, it has got to go.

Luckily Angkor Wat, Stonehenge, the Great Pyramids or the Great Wall are not in Malaysia.


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