Management infighting has caused the half-done project to be abandoned.
TELUK INTAN: A half-built Hindu crematorium here has been in limbo for about seven years, forcing locals to use funeral services in Bidor, 40 km away.
Drawing attention to the matter was the Teluk Intan MP, DAP’s M Manogaran, who told FMT that political rivalry and management infighting had prevented any progress in the construction since it was halted in 2006.
The project stopped because the Registrar of Societies (ROS) deregistered the committee overseeing it—the Hindu Sabha Hilir Perak—for allegedly mismanaging its funds. A pro-tem committee took over, but it too failed to get construction up and running, leading to its eventual disbanding.
Manogaran said he tried to get the project going again after he won the Teluk Intan seat in 2008, but found it “very difficult to get the factions together”.
It was not until March 2009, he said, that he finally got the groups to sit at a meeting, but only to see more feuding, bringing things to a standstill.
Progress apparently became more difficult after the Perak state government fell to Barisan Nasional later that year, causing the factions to ignore Manogaran because he represented Pakatan Rakyat.
A state of neglect
Hindu Sabha Hilir Perak had intended to build the crematorium as early as 1997. Work started two years later, after the land was gazetted.
But the site is now in a state of neglect. The grounds are strewn with building materials and the adjacent cemetery is choked with weeds, annoying the local Hindus to no end.
“I am under pressure,” Manogaran said. “People are asking me when this is going to be resolved. They are angry and disappointed that this has been going on for the past seven years.”
ROS recently recognised a new Hindu Sabha committee, apparently headed by local MIC chief P Periyasamy.
Manogaran said that the federal government gave this committee a grant of RM300,000 late last year so that the project could resume, but he said Periyasamy was reluctant to get things going because the funding fell short of the RM1.2 million needed to complete the job.
However, according to the MP, the Teluk Intan locals were more than willing to contribute to the project’s completion.
“But I’ve been told that some people don’t want this to take off while I am still the MP. There is this long-standing issue that this shouldn’t be resolved during an opposition MP’s term.”
EGM next month
Periyasamy confirmed to FMT that his committee had received the federal government’s money and said he would call for an extraordinary general meeting next month.
“It will involve all the committees,” he said.
He denied that Manogaran was being sidelined, saying he was aware that the MP had promised his full support and would raise donations for the project.
He agreed with Manogaran that infighting in the previous committees made things difficult. He was trying to change that, he said, and was hoping that work on the crematorium would resume six months after the EGM.
TELUK INTAN: A half-built Hindu crematorium here has been in limbo for about seven years, forcing locals to use funeral services in Bidor, 40 km away.Drawing attention to the matter was the Teluk Intan MP, DAP’s M Manogaran, who told FMT that political rivalry and management infighting had prevented any progress in the construction since it was halted in 2006.
The project stopped because the Registrar of Societies (ROS) deregistered the committee overseeing it—the Hindu Sabha Hilir Perak—for allegedly mismanaging its funds. A pro-tem committee took over, but it too failed to get construction up and running, leading to its eventual disbanding.
Manogaran said he tried to get the project going again after he won the Teluk Intan seat in 2008, but found it “very difficult to get the factions together”.
It was not until March 2009, he said, that he finally got the groups to sit at a meeting, but only to see more feuding, bringing things to a standstill.
Progress apparently became more difficult after the Perak state government fell to Barisan Nasional later that year, causing the factions to ignore Manogaran because he represented Pakatan Rakyat.
A state of neglectHindu Sabha Hilir Perak had intended to build the crematorium as early as 1997. Work started two years later, after the land was gazetted.
But the site is now in a state of neglect. The grounds are strewn with building materials and the adjacent cemetery is choked with weeds, annoying the local Hindus to no end.
“I am under pressure,” Manogaran said. “People are asking me when this is going to be resolved. They are angry and disappointed that this has been going on for the past seven years.”
ROS recently recognised a new Hindu Sabha committee, apparently headed by local MIC chief P Periyasamy.
Manogaran said that the federal government gave this committee a grant of RM300,000 late last year so that the project could resume, but he said Periyasamy was reluctant to get things going because the funding fell short of the RM1.2 million needed to complete the job.
However, according to the MP, the Teluk Intan locals were more than willing to contribute to the project’s completion.
“But I’ve been told that some people don’t want this to take off while I am still the MP. There is this long-standing issue that this shouldn’t be resolved during an opposition MP’s term.”
EGM next month
Periyasamy confirmed to FMT that his committee had received the federal government’s money and said he would call for an extraordinary general meeting next month.
“It will involve all the committees,” he said.
He denied that Manogaran was being sidelined, saying he was aware that the MP had promised his full support and would raise donations for the project.
He agreed with Manogaran that infighting in the previous committees made things difficult. He was trying to change that, he said, and was hoping that work on the crematorium would resume six months after the EGM.
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