HVK Archives: Temple priest shot at in Malaysia
Temple priest shot at in Malaysia - The Pioneer
Posted By Krishnakant Udavant (kkant@bom2.vsnl.net.in)
March 30, 1998
Title: Temple priest shot at in Malaysia
Author:
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: March 30, 1998
GUNMEN OPENED fire at a Hindu temple, seriously wounding a priest
and his assistant in the second case of religion-related violence
in two days.
Police said the priests, M Thanasegaran, 30, and M Monagaran, 29,
were preparing late on Saturday for the next day's religious
service when a car pulled up and three men fired several shots
inside the temple before speeding off, the Bernama News Agency
reported.
"Initial investigation showed that it was due to a
misunderstanding among Hindu devotees there and the, temple's
management committee," and was not related to fighting that broke
out oil Friday in another state, Bernama quoted Kedah state's
police chief, Nik- lsmail Yusoff, as saying.
The temple is in Kedah near Alor Sector, 320 kms northwest of
Kuala Lumpur.
On Friday, fights broke out in Penang, in northern Malaysia
between Hindus and Muslim when ethnic Indian Hindus transferred
their statues from an old temple to a new location near a Muslim
mosque.
Police dispersed the fighting crowd with tear gas.
Malaysian police chief Rahim Noor warned that the internal
security act, which allows for detention without trial, would' be
used against those who incited "religious unrest.
Separately, Bernama reported that three youths were detained in
Kedah state with 15 grenades and a pistol.
Following Friday's clash, Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim
rushed to Penang, where he urged the Muslim and Hindu communities
solve their differences.
Anwar had said then that the problem had been solved.
The penang state government has decided to relocate the temple
far from the mosque.
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