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KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, June 9, 2006: Five people, including lawyer P. Uthayakumar, were arrested when they tried to stop Kuala Lumpur City Hall officials from demolishing a temple. A temple priest suffered a heart attack when he saw the temple being demolished and was taken to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital. The arrests came after a two-hour standoff between police officers, City Hall workers and 15 people seeking to prevent the Aum Sri Sivabalamuniswaran temple in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur, from being torn down. According to the area OCPD, the demonstrators threw sticks and stones at the policemen. “The temple management was informed almost a year ago that the temple would have to be relocated due to the construction of the new Duta-Hulu Kelang Expressway (Duke),” he said. It was learnt that the committee of the 30-year old building, which has a congregation of about 800 people, was offered a plot of land in a nearby location, but had rejected the offer. P. Sivalingam, a temple priest, said that they had been receiving notices from City Hall for a few years. “We have had a few negotiations with them over the years, but could not come to an agreement because they were, at first, not willing to give us any land in compensation.” However, he said, the highway developer later offered them a plot of land, but this was rejected by the temple committee. “They gave us a 10 ft. by 10 ft. plot, which is not big enough for the temple.” he said.

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