HVK Archives: Shrines of Trouble
Shrines of Trouble - Outlook
Anoop Kamath
()
April 13, I998
Title: Shrines of Trouble
Author: Anoop Kamath
Publication: Outlook
Date: April 13, I998
Its a scenario that's become painfully familiar to most Indians
over the last few years-riots between Hindus and Muslims over a
temple/mosque site. The difference in the latest instance is that
it took place in the normally serene Malaysian resort island of
Penang, about 400 km northwest of Kuala Lumpur.
The sporadic eight-day confrontation, which culminated on March
27, was played out away from the public eye. For, a strict
censorship is imposed here on reporting racial or religious
confrontation in this multi-racial, multi-religious nation of 20
million citizens. Few are thus aware of the feud between Hindus
and Muslims of Indian origin over the conversion of a 50-year-old
tree shrine into a full-fledged temple.
The tree-shrine borders a madrasa which was originally set up to
cater to the Indian Muslim work permit holder and, of late,
illegal migrants. But over the two decades or so of its
existence, it evolved into a mosque as well. A mosque that is
separated by a house from the proposed temple.
The Muslim objection to the Hindu temple, observers believe, is a
follow-up to the bomb blasts in Kerala and Tamil Nadu early this
year by an extremist Muslim group protesting against the Babri
Masjid demolition.
When the problem first surfaced, the state government quickly
came in with an alternate site for the temple a three-quarter-
kilometer away, but fighting broke out between the Hindus and the
Indian Muslims on March 26 and again on March 27.
According to eyewitnesses, about 1,500 Muslims marched on to the
temple shouting religious slogans, when the anti-riot Federal
Reserve Unit, replenished with reinforcements rushed in from
other parts of the peninsula, stopped them. The Indian Hindus
retaliated by demonstrating in front of chief minister. Tan Sri
Koh Tsu Koon's office.
Among the 150 people detained in connection with the rioting is
an Indian Muslim priest with a
video of the destruction of the Babri Masjid. The video appears
to have been the last straw in the ongoing friction between the
two communities. The proximity of the two shrines has been a bone
of contention ever since the madrasa became a mosque about a
decade-and-a-half ago, but had been kept within bounds by regular
consultations between the two groups. However, incensed by the
video of the Babri demolition, the Indian Muslims objected to the
nadaswarams and other musical instruments that accompanied the
moving of the idols at the tree shrine to the alternate site.
Brickbatting by both sides followed and the consequent riot was
stopped by police using tear gas.
A large quantity of Molotov cocktails, knives, machetes and
bearing scrapers were recovered by the police. A quick check
among hardware shops in Kuala Lumpur showed that many of these
sharp instruments were not available for sale, especially near
where Muslim communities live.
Though there is a surface calm, Penang is tense. At the disputed
site, police patrols keep the peace. And Inspector General of
Police Tan Sri Abdul Rahim Noor has threatened to impose curfew
if the problem continues. The deities at the Hindu shrine have
been shifted to the new site.
As religion is becoming increasingly associated with riots, the
government plans to ban the Vesak celebrations that mark the
birthday of the Gautam Buddha in May. And within the Chinese
community there is much nervousness. For, in any racial
confrontation, they become, as in Indonesia, the inevitable
targets.
Religion is incidental in the larger political framework in which
the Muslim Malay holds political power, the largely Buddhist,
Confucianist or "free-thinking" Chinese the economic power, with
the essentially Hindu Indian at the bottom of the totem pole,
providing much the same menial roles for which the British had
brought them to this country under terms that were no better than
slavery. In a country where racial tensions lie dormant, an out-
and-out religious riot or confrontation is a rarity. In Malaysia,
racial tensions are real, religious tensions are not.
What has everyone on tenterhooks is the parallel with the Chinese-
led 'hartal' in 1967 protesting against the removal of English as
one of Malaysia's two official languages, and the ruling
coalition's poor showing in elections I8 months later. Now, with
the economy down, with fears of a Malay economic debacle, and
with a general election likely soon, the fears of a larger
conflagration remains in official calculations. For, post-riot
instability brings in genuine fears of a loss of Malay political
power. Indians provide a political balance between the rival
claims of the Chinese and the Malays in Penang-the only state in
Malaysia where this is so. Hence, the present confrontation is
not one the ruling National Front is happy with. In a
parliamentary by election in Teluk Intan near Kuala Lumpur, the
Indians, angry at an official ban on trade during a temple
festival, had deserted the government in droves to elect an
Opposition member of Parliament.
Could the BJP's coming to power in India have anything to do with
all this? All that officials are prepared to say is that this is
one more reason why the issue of a tree shrine became more
confrontational than it need have. The problem, deputy prime
minister Dato Seri Anwar Ibrahim, stresses, is related to "events
overseas". Apparently, a BJP victory combined with the Babri
Masjid video has aggravated tensions between Hindu and Muslim
Indians, far from the shores of India, to create a religious
problem in a country where it is a rarity.
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