KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, December 4, 2007: A senior minister in predominantly Muslim Malaysia yesterday denounced the destruction of Hindu temples one week after thousands of ethnic Indians held a rally protesting alleged discrimination. Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, an official in the prime minister’s office, described action by local authorities in recent years to demolish temples–sometimes while people were worshipping–as insensitive. The senior minister noted that the latest site to be torn down was a 36-year-old temple in central Selangor state, destroyed while devotees were praying in early November.
“It was stupid of the officials not to think about looking into sensitive matters like this, and I believe it could have been done in a better way,” he told reporters. Mohamad Nazri said Selangor chief minister Mohamad Khir Toyo had been told to handle religious issues with sensitivity and that he did not think the leader had a “personal vendetta” against Hindus. “We must be sensitive and not demolish temples,” he said, though he noted that the sites had to be taken down to make way for development projects.
The government was shaken by a mass rally on November 25 that drew 8,000 people protesting alleged discrimination by the Muslim Malay majority, against ethnic Indians who make up 8% of the population.