KUALA LUMPUR, September 1, 2013 (Malay Mail): (HPI Note: This report is of an the same incident as above). Nine individuals, including one PKR and six MIC Youth leaders, have been arrested so far in this morning’s standoff with Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) over an allegedly “illegal” demolition of the 101-year-old Hindu temple on Jalan P. Ramlee.
Temple lawyer N. Surendran also alleged that “three or four gangsters,” whom he claimed had come with the council’s demolition team, assaulted him when he tried to stop them from tearing down the Golden Triangle Muneswarar Kuil.
“The standoff went on from about 8am to 10.30am when the contractors were brought in and they started work. “These DBKL officers smashed three deities and took them out. We confronted them and asked for a negotiation but they continued to work until 10.30am until the cops came in and asked them to leave,” Surendran told The Malay Mail Online when contacted this morning.
He added that the demolition had been a surprise one as negotiation was still on-going when the contractors came in with their heavy machinery. “There was no notice, it was a demolition by ambush… they just came in a day after Merdeka and began breaking it down. Negotiation was supposed to be still on-going… and there was no court order permitting it.