PETALING JAYA, Oct 2 – Selangor DAP today applauded the state government's swift move to suspend the deputy president of the Ampang Jaya Municipal Council (MPAJ) pending further investigations into the demolition of a Hindu temple in Ampang last month.
Selangor DAP committee members from left (seated) Tee Boon Hock, Lee Kee Hiong, Tony Pua, Lau Weng San, Jenice Lee, Ramakrishnan; (standing) Michael Soon, M. Pulanthiran, Dr Cheah Wing Yin, Edward Pang, T. Kannan and M. Batumalai.
Hamid Hussain has been temporarily relieved of his authority for a week from Sept 30 after his superior Datuk Mohamad Yaacob identified him as the officer responsible for the directive to demolish the Sri Maha Kaliamman temple on Sept 11.
In a press conference held in its Taman Paramount office here today, state DAP secretary Lau Weng San hailed the move as proof that the Pakatan Rakyat-led state administration keeps its election pledges.
"We want to emphasise that PR and DAP will not renege on its promises made during the past general elections," said Lau, who is also the state assemblyman for Kampung Tunku.
He explained that the state government and the party had made clear its stand regarding places of worship, legal or otherwise, as far back as April – in that there would be no arbitrary demolition without the approval of the state's senior administration and the working committee on non-Muslim affairs helmed by state executive committee members Ronny Liu, Teresa Kok and Dr Xavier Jeyakumar.
"The Selangor state government and DAP will not stay silent if they find any civil servant has deliberately defied the policies of the Selangor state government, including taking disciplinary action to suspend them or to freeze their promotions," Lau added.
He also pointed out that the PR state government had approved 27 plots of land to be given to various religious organisations to built their places of worship within the state. Their leases last 99 years.
"The religious organisations only need pay a land premium of RM1,000 for the first year and subsequently a nominal fee of RM1 for quit rent," he said.
Seven of them have been reserved for Hindu temples while the other 20 are split between Chinese temples and churches. Each of them measure no more than 10,000 square feet, according to local council guidelines.
DAP national publicity secretary Tony Pua who was also present at the media conference, criticised the opposition Barisan Nasional, notably the MIC and MCA.
He asked if the MIC, which apparently owns a piece of land in Damansara Utama here, was willing to donate it to the demolished temple to enable them to relocate.
He also questioned the political parties if they would take to task the ex-menteri besar Datuk Seri Dr Khir Toyo who was allegedly behind the demolition of a Hindu temple in Padang Jaya near Klang but who continued to deny his involvement and refuse to apologise or initiate a settlement to the issue.
"If not, they are only politicising the issue and are not sincere to find a resolution to this issue," Pua said.
The other DAP state committee members present included national publicity secretary Tony Pua, Teratai assemblywoman Jenice Lee, Damansara Utama state assemblyman Dr Cheah Wing Yin and councillors from Kajang, Klang, Petaling Jaya and Sepang.
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