The Damage Is Done Relocation Of 131 Year Old Hindu Temple Fuels Accusations Of Bullying Special Privileges

---

 On paper, it appears the crisis has been solved and everyone goes home extremely happy. The 131-year-old Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple on Jalan Masjid India has agreed to move to a nearby site, giving way for a new mosque to be built on its original site. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim can claim victory after attending the groundbreaking ceremony of the Madani Mosque.
 But if Anwar and his half-baked advisers think that the problem is fixed, they better prepare for a surprise in the next 16th General Election. A temple is an incredible sensitive issue to the Hindus, just like education and the economy to the ethnic Chinese in Malaysia. Try to insult Prophet Muhammad and you will get the idea of the sensitivity of a house of worship for the Indians in the country.
 On the ground, the relocation of the century-old Hindu temple in favour of a new Muslim mosque is far from over. On the contrary, it could be the beginning of a 1-term premiership for Anwar. The fact that the prime minister had swiftly urged for an amicable resolution, instead of his infamous trademark of pussyfooting, speaks volumes about how fragile the racial and religious issues are.
It’s not only about religious freedom, legal authority and cultural preservation, but rather about discrimination, racism, double standards and even bullying. Even though the Hindu temple will be relocated just 50m-metre away following a heated debate over its fate, exactly why must the temple, which pre-dated the Independence of Malaysia, should make way for Anwar’s Madani Mosque?
 Besides, there are already several huge mosques nearby to serve the Malay-Muslims. Why must the Madani government misbehave like a big bully to snatch the only Hindu temple there? The Indian community might understand if it was to make way for development, but to replace it with a new mosque simply screams bullying, oppression and a show of arrogance of power.
It doesn’t matter whether the temple was built illegally on public land, the bullet which Anwar used to bulldoze the new mosque. It was already a tactical error when the PM insisted that the country must follow the rule of law, hence the temple built without permission must make way. His statement was seen as arrogant and pro-Malay Muslim, voters whom he has been trying to win as 80% of them didn’t vote for him.
If indeed Anwar really follows the rule of law himself, why did he broke the law when he pardoned crooked Najib Razak (and even trying to create a new law to accommodate the scumbag for a house detention in the comfort of his mansion), the former prime minister who had stolen billions of dollars in the 1MDB scandal – despite not qualified for a pardon review in the first place?
 The reason why Hindu temples were always built illegally on either public or private land is because the government did not care and had never allocated any land for them from the beginning. When was the last time you heard a mosque had to be relocated or demolished for illegally occupying a piece of land? It never happened because mosques will always get their land free of charge.
 Even if there isn’t any demand for a new mosque, the government will still build one anyway for the obvious reason. For Buddhists and Christians, their problems aren’t as severe as the Hindus as they are relatively wealthier, therefore, could raise funds through donations to either buy a land to legally build a temple or a church, or rent an office lot to serve as their house of worship.
The Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple has also raised a burning question – why the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) sold the land to textile company Jakel Group (known for its wide array of fabrics and Malay garments) in 2014, despite knowing a temple originally built in 1893 was still “illegally” sitting on the plot of land. The temple committee said it had not been consulted about the sale, as well as offered to purchase the land.
Yes, like it or not, the whole fiasco screams bullying and fuels accusations of special privileges when the DBKL sold the land to a Malay business owner, after which a Hindu temple had to make way for a new mosque named after a pro-Malay prime minister’s slogan. PM Anwar was trapped – damn if the mosque cannot be built, damn if the temple cannot be relocated.
 Instead of blaming everything on the Hindu temple for not legalising its own existence, never mind both DBKL and Malaysia did not exist in 1893, perhaps the genius prime minister should explain why the 131-year-old temple cannot be allowed to exist in its current location and let his Madani Mosque to be built 50-metre away, not to mention why he hadn’t done anything when he was the Deputy PM from 1993 to 1998.
The best part is Mr Anwar cannot point fingers at the previous ruling government – Barisan Nasional – who is now part of a multi-coalition government called the Unity Government. It was “Ketuanan Melayu”, the ideology of Malay supremacy espoused by the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which has contributed to the culture of bullying minority groups Chinese and Indians for over 60 years.
 After all, Anwar Ibrahim was himself part of the racist and corrupt UMNO-led Barisan Nasional regime. He was the 7th deputy prime minister since 1993 as well as finance minister since 1991 – till he was sacked by then-PM Mahathir Mohamad in 1998 for corruption and sodomy. Having lost power, Anwar started the “Reformasi movement”, only to do nothing after becoming the 10th Prime Minister in November 2022.
 Just when you thought Anwar is going to lose truckloads of Indian votes due to the temple drama, it seems he may also lose the Malay votes after hate preacher Firdaus Wong claims that the government gave RM2 million in compensation to Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple – suggesting that Mr Anwar has bribed, even kowtow, the Indian community.
It doesn’t matter whether Firdaus had made a baseless allegation and was trying to incite religious sentiments to overthrow Anwar government. The question is what the spineless prime minister, who only knows how to bully non-Malay, plans to do with people like Firdaus Wong Wai Hung, who converted to Islam in 2009 and was involved in previous instigation between Malay and Chinese.
 Islamic preacher Firdaus Wong – the first person who posted and complained about the “Allah” socks being sold at 3 out of 881 KK convenience store – obviously was trying to spark racial unrest in the latest temple issue. He had tried to sabotage KK Mart after his own convenience store – “MyKampung Fresh Mart” – went bust due to competition from rival KK Super Mart.
 PM Anwar is paying the price for harbouring and protecting radicals and extremists like Zakir Naik, Zamri Vinoth and Firdaus Wong. If the government does not take any legal actions against Firdaus, and pretends nothing had happened because Anwar was super terrified of offending the Islamist preacher, the gullible Malay-Muslims would believe the rumours that RM2 million had been paid to appease the Indians.




If he takes action against Firdaus, which the PM should do as he has just trumpeted about the rule of law, the opposition may twist and spin it as an attack against Islam. Poor Anwar has basically entangled himself after excessively promoting himself as the hero of Muslims. No amount of MGR dances can help him to hoodwink the Indian voters.
 But knowing the man whose goal is to cling to power by hook or by crook, chances are nothing will happen to the troublemaker as the prime minister is too chicken to act against “privilege group” Islamist preachers, no matter how dangerous they are. After all, Anwar is the same man who admires Hamas terrorists so much that he boldly and gladly rained praises on the terror organization. - financetwitter


The views expressed are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect those of MMKtT.

---