FMT:
Grant titles to colonial-era
temples, says former
deputy minister
Ti Lian Ker backs a call for the government to speed up the registration of places of worship with local councils.
Ti Lian Ker, a former deputy minister of national unity, said there was a need to be proactive, as racial and religious issues were open to being exploited.
He said many temples had existed on government land before Merdeka but somehow the applications for land titles had “slipped through the administrative cracks”. He said they should be automatically granted a license.
Ti was commenting on a suggestion by a PKR Youth committee member, P Nanthakumar, for a legalisation programme to register houses of worship with local councils to ensure they were not operating illegally.
Nanthakumar’s proposal comes in the wake of the planned relocation of the Dewi Sri Pathrakaliamman temple to make way for a mosque, which triggered public backlash and disputes over the legality of the temple.
Ti believes that “temperatures could have been lowered” if the legality of the temple had been established from the onset.
“It would be easier to manage sentiments and resolve the dispute if authorities are required to preserve, replace or recognise the existence or rights of a house of worship that’s been built on state or private lands pre-Merdeka days,” he said.
“Otherwise the different communities would always be at loggerheads on whether these rights were being infringed or the rule of law being violated. And it would no doubt be politicised.”
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kt comments:
Excellent proposal by Ti - however, must surmount the innate hatred that exists against Hinduism
Even one 3,000 yo Kuil tak boleh kasi, you want them to give hundreds, maybe thousands? Wake up lah Ah Ti.
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