Century-old Hindu shrine in Alor Setar destroyed by city council

FMT:

Century-old Hindu shrine in Alor Setar torn down

Before demolition

What’s left of Sri Madurai Veeran shrine following its demolition by the Alor Setar City Council

(Vijhay Mohen pic)

 Just how was the 100-year old shrine disrupting traffic flow?

ALOR SETAR: Some 200 city council officers descended on a century-old Hindu shrine here just after midnight today, before demolishing the structure despite protests from its caretaker.

The Sri Madurai Veeran shrine, which sits under a tree opposite the Alor Setar rail station, was reduced to rubble at 2am.

Its caretaker C Vijhay Mohen said he was escorted out of the area by policemen.

“Next thing you know, the backhoes came in,” he told FMT.

The Alor Setar City Council (MBAS) had served an eviction notice on the demolition plan a few weeks earlier, saying the shrine was built “illegally” on road reserve land and was disrupting traffic flow.

Vijhay said a police report would be lodged against the city council.

The Sri Madurai Veeran shrine under a tree near the Alor Setar railway station was built in the early 1900s

(Vijhay Mohen pic)

The shrine was founded by Vijhay’s great-grandfather and Indian labourers who worked in the construction of the railway between Butterworth and the northern frontier in the early 20th century.

Vijhay said Malayan Railways had given the spot on which the temple was built in the early 1900s, but attempts to register it with the Registrar of Societies was turned down with the excuse that it was “too small”.

When contacted, DAP’s P Ramasamy questioned why the authorities demolished the temple in the early hours of the morning and not during office hours.

“This act in itself indicates that the act of demolishing the temple in Alor Setar was based on religious and extremist sentiments,” he said.

FMT has contacted MBAS for further comments.

The dawn raid and destruction of the shrine indeed indicated the sinister and bad intention of the City Council - why sneaked around like fugitives if the demolition was above board?

But such a destruction of a Hindu shrine, regardless of its vintage and pedigree to Malaysian history, should be expected from a religiously-intolerant state government (& city council). It spells trouble ahead for other (non-Islamic) religious institutions, buildings and places of worship.

From the photographs and my personal experience in Alor Setar, the shrine did not interfere with the kerbau traffic flow. But the intolerance interfered with Hindu worship, sensitivity and emotion.

On the other side of the coin, the people looking after the shrine and their benefactors-sponsors did absolutely nothing except wailed and railed against what has already been known to be a religiously-intolerant authority. Did they expect the City Council or State Government to give in and provide an alternative piece of land for the worship of their deities?

The Hindu side should have removed their sacred icons and other religious paraphernalia for safe keeping while the socio-political debate continues. From past experiences they should have known what would likely happen.

If the State miraculously allocates a piece of land, well and good, but if the worst comes to the worst, which alas it did, then at least the sacred icons would be safe.

But too late, that was not to be.

photo from Dr Ramasamy's FB page