Kedah delegate and Tanjong Dawai assemblyperson Tajul Urus Mat Zain said that this is because these ruins are located all over the place, including under people’s homes.
“If these areas are to be gazetted as heritage areas then I will lose a constituency as these small candis are everywhere, under kampung homes, by the roadside, everywhere,” he said.
He also said that the destruction of a candi, reportedly part of an 8th century archeological site, for a housing project is a “small matter turned into a fiasco”.
The candi is part of the Bujang Valley which is located in the Merbok parliamentary constituency and Tanjong Dawai state constituency.
Tajul Urus, who is also a Kedah exco member, said that the demolished candi is not the original ruin but a reconstructed one.
“What had happened was that the candi was rebuilt using river rocks in 1974 to a height of two feet,” he said.
This is why the comparisons between the candi to the Taliban-destroyed Afghanistan Bamiyan Buddhist structures by Padang Serai MP N Surendran is an overstatement for political gains.
“This is like comparing an ant to an elephant,” he said.
He added that the Bujang Valley is pre-Islamic heritage not part of Malay myth and folklore.
“What about the Merong Mahawangsa which involves the Jerai mountain? I urge the Heritage Department to look into this for the sake of tourism,” he said.
The state government has said that the candi will be reconstructed by the developer, who was unaware that it was an ancient ruin.
In 2011, then information, communication and culture minister Rais Yatim, in a reply to Parliament, said that the government will buy land where the Bujang Valley ruins are located to preserve the ancient heritage site.
No comments:
Post a Comment