LETTER | I refer to the Malaysiakini report Temple demolition shows Johor govt’s lack of heart, says state rep.

On Jan 11, news broke about a court-ordered demolition of a temple, owned by Persatuan Penganut Dewa Shree Sivasakthi Shree Sinnakaruppar, located in Bandar Seri Alam, Masai.

The order was such because the temple sits on a plot of privately-owned land and was built without permit and without permission from the valid landowner.

The case was initially brought to the Johor Bahru High Court before Judicial Commissionjer Kamal Bin Md Shahid.

Upon inspection of the case, it actually began in March 2016 when the valid landowner, a Singaporean, filed a few claims at the Johor Bahru High Court against nine defendants believed to be on the temple's management committee.

A decision was made after two days of full trial, which took place on May 14 and 28 last year.

The court had on July 23 decided on a few matters, among them as listed below:

1. The structures of the temple in question were declared as illegal;

2. An order for the temple management to demolish the illegal temple structures immediately and for the management to hand over the empty plot of land to its rightful owner immediately;

3. An order for the temple management committee to remove all properties, statues, deities and debris from the area immediately from the date of order;

4. In the event that the temple management committee failing to adhere to these orders within three months, the valid landowner has the right to remove, demolish and destroy the structures of the temple upon his discretion; and

5. An injunction order stopping anyone, including devotees, from entering or trespassing into the temple as the land belongs to the valid owner.

The case was tried in court a year after it was filed. I believe that during the period in between, there were surely discussions between both parties, mediation and so on to resolve the issue.

But those discussions had failed to reach a consensus, thus forcing the case to be heard in court.

Many are hoping and urging for the Johor government to intervene in the matter, using the authority of the state government.

However, our country practices the doctrine of separation of powers where the judiciary, executive and legislature posses their respective powers and one entity not interfering with that of the other.

In this matter, the Johor government as an executive power does not have the jurisdiction to interfere in a decision made by the court, and the court’s decision is final based on the merits heard by the judge during the trial.

As such, Liow's statement saying that the temple was demolished by the Johor government is false, has cruel intentions and is misleading as the temple was clearly demolished by the landowner based on the court order dated July 23 last year.

In this issue, I was informed that a discussion was held between the temple management committee and former Johor Jaya assemblyperson Tan Cher Puk, former Permas assemblyperson MM Samy and the relevant state authorities.

The Johor government had also offered a new plot of government- owned land to the committee, only to be met with strong rejection.

In 2015, the valid landowner handed a notice to the temple management committee to relocate but the committee refused and in failing to do so, the landowner was forced to take the matter to court as a last resort.

This is a highly sensitive issue as it involves religion and belief. As such, I view the actions of certain quarters to spread photos of the temple demolition process, and of religious statues being removed as very irresponsible and intended to incite anger among the Hindus.

I hope that actions are taken against these irresponsible quarters.

I also hope that the Hindus can be rational, open and not jump to conclusions when evaluating the issue, as well as refrain from politicising the court’s order.

We should not be influenced in the game of 'hate politics' practiced by the opposition who will not hesitate to play up the issue for their political gain.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.