Grant Titles To Colonial Era Temples Says Former Deputy Minister

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Ti Lian Ker said there was a need to be proactive, as racial and religious issues were open to being exploited. (Bernama pic)
PETALING JAYA: A former deputy minister has backed a call for the government to speed up the legalisation of houses of worship following the recent controversy sparked over the relocation of a Hindu temple.
Ti Lian Ker, a former deputy minister of national unity, said there was a need to be proactive, as racial and religious issues were open to being exploited.
He said many temples had existed on government land before Merdeka but somehow the applications for land titles had “slipped through the administrative cracks”. He said they should be automatically granted a license.
Ti was commenting on a suggestion by a PKR Youth committee member, P Nanthakumar, for a legalisation programme to register houses of worship with local councils to ensure they were not operating illegally.
Nanthakumar’s proposal comes in the wake of the planned relocation of the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman temple to make way for a mosque, which triggered public backlash and disputes over the legality of the temple.
Ti believes that “temperatures could have been lowered” if the legality of the temple had been established from the onset.
“It would be easier to manage sentiments and resolve the dispute if authorities are required to preserve, replace or recognise the existence or rights of a house of worship that’s been built on state or private lands pre-Merdeka days,” he said.
“Otherwise the different communities would always be at loggerheads on whether these rights were being infringed or the rule of law being violated. And it would no doubt be politicised.” - FMT

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