Khalid slams shoddy Thaipusam treatment

By Syed Jaymal Zahiid - The Malaysian insider

Selangor Mentri Besar, Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim (centre) and other Parti Rakyat put on a smile for the cameras despite being given 'second class treatment' at the Thaipusam celebrations in Batu Caves last night. - Picture by Jack Ooi

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 30 — Selangor Mentri Besar Tan Sri Khalid Ibrahim blew his top over receiving what he described as a “second class treatment” last night when he was forced to launch the Thaipusam celebrations outside Batu Caves.

He and top state Pakatan Rakyat (PR) leaders had to settle with addressing part of the million congregants at a small stage underneath the MRR2 bridge after local authorities declared the temple compound as private property.

But Khalid believed the “unsavoury” treatment was due to the presence of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak who was also there to officiate the Hindu religious festival.

“We don’t have any problems with them coming but Batu Caves is in Selangor so we (PR government) are the hosts and they are the guests,” said the mentri besar, adding that he was baffled by the treatment he and other PR leaders received.

To add insult to injury, the lack of stairs to the stage prompted the Selayang City Council to use an elevator attached to a truck to lift Khalid and others onto the platform.

Pakatan Rakyat supporters also argued with the police to leave the stage there when Khalid and his entourage had already waited for almost an hour after having scheduled to give his speech at 10pm.

The stage was relocated a day earlier after police said it occupied space for their units on duty at one of Malaysia’s most biggest and colourful festivals.

The Sri Subramaniamy temple in Batu Caves is led by people linked to Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu, president of MIC which is the third biggest party in Barisan Nasional (BN).

BN lost Selangor to PR in Election 2008 and is seen as trying various strategies to recapture the country’s richest state by any means ahead of the next general elections.

Khalid said he will speak to the state’s Land Office to determine if the Batu Caves temple is a private property. PR leaders believed the land should be open to the public.

Meanwhile, the Selangor government gave out RM1 million worth of donations to several Tamil schools and temples as part of what Khalid described as his administration effort to help the state’s poor.

The Thaipusam celebration there had also been transformed into a “fiesta” as part of his government’s tourism initiative to attract foreign tourists here.