MALAYSIA, 03 Dec 2013,(by Lim Guan Eng, Malaysia Chronicle): Malaysians are shocked that an ancient Hindu temple (Candi) belonging to the Sri Vijaya era, about 1200 years, was demolished by a developer to make way for a housing project in Sungei Batu area of Kedah. This was one of the temples rebuilt in the 1970s using materials from the pre-historic era.. Even the nearby Indian residents of the Sungei Batu estate were oblivious to this destruction.
The matter was brought to public attention when one Nadarajah, a researcher on Bujang Valley history, discovered the disappearance of this Candi a few days back. Last Saturday, Prof. P. Ramasamy, Deputy Chief Minister ll of the Penang State government, who had earlier researched on the Chola presence in Bujang Valley, confirmed the destruction of the temple. A nearby Museum official revealed that the destruction of the temple could have been avoided had the land office in Merbok monitored and notified the presence of this historical structure to the developer. However, this was not done and what more the developer was given the approval to proceed with the clearance of the site.
Bujang Valley is a world famous historical site. In this sprawling area of hundreds of acres, remains of Malaysia’s ancient history of Buddhism and Hinduism are evident. Some historians and archaeologists are of the opinion that the Bujang Valley represents the beginning of early Malay civilization. The Ministry of Tourism and Culture and in particular the Department of Heritage is urged to take immediate steps to list Bujang Valley as a UNESCO Heritage.Though the Kedah State Government has issued a stop worker on the developer, stop work order is not enough; measures must be taken to see whether the agency officials and the developer have broken any laws and to be prosecuted.
Lim Guan Eng is the DAP sec-gen & Penang Chief Minister