Friday, November 02, 2007

Deepavali and Bulan Syawal Destruction

Malaysiakini reported Shah Alam council blamed for bloody fracas at the Kampung Rimba Jaya, Hulu Kelang 100-years-old temple demolition. Although the internet blogs generally placed more attention in this , it should be made clear that other structures such as Surau and houses in the village were destroyed as well.

Mainstream blogger, Lulu made a transcript from the Malaysiakini article above. There are a few key points to note from the incident, taken directly from the transcript.
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Point 1: Throwing Stone During Prayers


Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS) president A Vaithilingam said Majlis Bandar Shah Alam (MBSA) mayor Za’ba Che Rus had no control over his enforcement officers who were throwing stones into the temple while a special religious ceremony was taking place.

"How can they (MBSA personnel) attack devotees like that? No enforcement body in the world attacks people with stones,” he said."

Point 2: Unreasonable 2 Hours Notice Period
Vaithilingam also slammed Za’ba for allegedly personally telling temple authorities at 9am on Tuesday that the temple was to be demolished in the next two hours.

“What else can the innocent devotees do when given only two hours? ... " he added.

Point 3: Deepavali will be celebrated by all Hindus on Nov 8.

Point 4: MBSA Wounded Detainee, Medical Attention Not Immediate
Uthayakumar said that he witnessed one detainee who had a five-inch cut on the head while he was detained at the Section 11 Shah Alam police station.He claimed that the wound was inflicted by a MBSA enforcement officer with a parang.

Uthayakumar and three other lawyers were arrested ....
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What can I say? Is that an act that respect human rights? Why can't MBSA give the residents more time to pack up and leave? If Malaysiakini stated it right, I would consider 2 Hours as downright illogical judging by the amount of things they have to move out.

Malaysia was initially built as a tolerant nation that respects human rights and reasoning. What has Malaysia turn into? It seems during the administration of Pak Lah's Hadhari, negative news has become a almost daily staple for Malaysians.

Meanwhile Malay blogs, UMNO Reform and Malaywomen expressed their greatest regret and anger over such incident. It is not hard to understand the reason. These days there are more occasions to class struggle rather than racial or religious struggle.

According to Malaywomen (if he got it right), a 7-days eviction period was given to residents earlier. Still, the time for these people to move out is relatively short. It makes no sense as most people will have difficulty locating a new place to shift to within a week. Moreover, there is another mind-boggling theory to this.

Malaywomen purportedly said, "The hotshot developer who had promised to allocate a new location for the demolished temple to the Malaysian Indian community in Kampung Rimba Jaya must deliver that promise as soon as possible. Do not piss people off with insincerity and lies." If such promise had really been made then it should be immediately fulfilled.

Ironic, isn't it ? Now, who is supposed to be accountable for all this? No one is sure. There is a Malay saying that goes "Gajah Sama Gajah Berjuang, Pelanduk Mati di Tengah-tengah". Translated it means the little deer dies standing in the middle of the battle between two elephants. Such an apt description. Metaphorically, we can be sure that the residents of Kampung Rimba Jaya represents the unfortunate deer, the victim of such governance.

Raajarox provided a number of pictures on the incident...... (2 of the bunch displayed below)



1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Hi,
It was indeed another sad day for us as Malaysians. Please pass this clip around http://youtube.com/watch?v=a1DiUJgieO4. Make 10th Nov 2007 a success!
cheers