MALAYSIA, June 21, 2006: The destruction of Hindu temples by Malaysian authorities is inflaming religious tensions. Rights groups and politicians say that anger is growing among the county’s minority Hindu community as temples, many of historic value, are bulldozed at the rate of at least one every few weeks to make way for new developments. Hindu groups have appealed to Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, the Prime Minister, to halt the destruction and respect the rights of religious minorities in mainly-Muslim Malaysia, but concern is growing that the situation will become volatile. Waytha Moorthy, the chairman of the Hindu Rights Action Force, which lobbies on behalf of affected temple groups, said that “at the moment, devotees are pleading and crying, but eventually they will not plead and cry anymore.” About half of Malaysia’s 26 million people are Malay, who are almost all Muslim, 8% are Indians-mostly Hindu-and 24% Chinese, with indigenous and others making up the rest. The country has thousands of Hindu temples and shrines, many built on private or plantation land by Indian migrant laborers before the country gained independence from Britain in 1957. The land has since been acquired by local councils or state authorities, who argue the temples are illegal buildings and have been knocking them down.
Hindu groups say the nationwide destruction of temples has been going on for years but the demolitions in the capitol Kuala Lumpur and the states of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan have accelerated lately. The government, under fire for bulldozing temples with police assistance, said it had demolished three since February to make way for road projects and low-cost housing development. Another three are due to be demolished over the next few months but in consultation with Hindu groups over how it should take place, said Mohamad Amin Abdul Aziz, City Hall’s deputy director-general. “The land belongs to the government and the government has to build roads, schools and bridges,” he said. “We are a liberal society and I respect all religions. I want them to have a temple of their own, but they should go through the proper channels,” he said, adding groups had to build on land gazetted for temples or buy land privately. But Hindu groups argue the authorities should permanently relocate the temples, some of which are more than 100-years-old, and are used by devotees from lower income groups who cannot afford to buy land.