Ku Nan, here's a reminder on Hindu temples

COMMENT The issue surrounding the Sri Muneswarar Kalayaman temple on Jalan P Ramlee in Kuala Lumpur has to be dealt with sensitively and imaginatively.
Otherwise, it will boil over, into the face of not only Federal Territories Minister Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor, but also his boss, Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Najib has publicly acknowledged past policy lapses that resulted in problems for the Indian Malaysian community.

One of these has been the lack of sensitivity to the fact that when you demolish a temple, you are not just taking down bricks and mortar and the representations of deities within; you are hitting at the core of the psyche of millions of ordinary people.

The general erosion of Indian Malaysian support for the BN started with the mindless demolition of Hindu temples up to 2008. It looked like the BN had learnt its lesson after 2008.
And the ordinary Indian Malaysian vote did help the BN retain Putrajaya in the 13th general election. But it now looks like all of this has been forgotten.

Now, the question Tengku Adnan has asked is: why do only Hindu temples face a problem, and not churches, mosques and Chinese temples?
This only indicates the stubborn lack of knowledge of the problem.
It is also for this reason that P Waythamoorthy (left) has been inducted into cabinet as deputy minister.
He understands the problem best and there are clear ways of resolving the issues in a win-win fashion.

He should be allowed to function and not be myopically told to be silent, all in the name of collective responsibility when things are obviously being handled inappropriately.
Set up special committee

Tengku Adnan should expedite the special committee that was agreed upon in the memorandum of understanding (MOU) that the BN signed with Hindraf that is to look into the issue of temples and burial grounds for Hindus.

In fact, Tengku Adnan (right) had signed the MOU on behalf of the BN.
Surely he must have at least read what he was signing.
Let me quote from Section 1.4 of the MOU as a reminder:

1. A sub-committee shall be set up by the head of the New Unit and will work under the purview of the ESC, to conduct a detailed audit on Hindu temples, shrines and burial grounds throughout Malaysia and subsequently, to develop detailed proposals to totally eliminate the problems surrounding the locations of Hindu temples, shrines and burial grounds.

2. The main objective of this programme is to ensure that there shall be no more Hindu temples, shrines and burial grounds located on land other than which has been gazetted for their specific purpose by 2018.

Tengku Adnan, the solution is there - right where you had signed. Please maximise the government’s resources and deal with the problems.
Put Waythamoorthy to work. He is in the cabinet specifically for that purpose. Let me also quote from Section 3 of the MOU:

• A New Unit shall be established within the Prime Minister’s Department chartered to expressly implement the five-year blueprint, and to which full executive authority will be devolved and budgets allocated to carry out the charter in an effective and expeditious manner.

• The New Unit will be fully accountable for the delivery of the blueprint targets and will contract services and act as monitor and supervisor, as needed, to execute its charter from all related government bodies.

Tengku, if you want Hindu temples not to give you any more trouble, surely you cannot go about it the way you are doing now. Cool down, use a little wisdom and do the right thing.

The nation can hardly afford more of the current insensitivity.

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N GANESAN is adviser to Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia.