Author: AFP
Publication: Outlook
Date: April 21, 2006
URL: http://www.outlookindia.com/pti_news.asp?gid=263&id=379485
Malaysian authorities have demolished a century-old
Hindu temple in Kuala Lumpur, bulldozing the building as devotees cried and
begged them to stop, Hindu groups said today.
The Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliamman Temple was
reduced to rubble after Kuala Lumpur's city hall sent in bulldozers, they
said.
In a complaint to police the temple's vice
president, Subramaniam Ragappan, said about 300 devotees were praying Tuesday
when the machines arrived, accompanied by police and city hall officials.
"We were forced to stop our prayers and
(rituals) halfway as they proceeded to tear down the temple," he said
in a copy of the complaint obtained by AFP.
A copy of a letter from city hall to a local
lawmaker, who had asked for the temple to be left intact, said the demolition
was going ahead to make way for a building project.
City hall officials were not immediately available
for comment.
Subramaniam said city hall tried in 2001 and
again in 2004 to tear down the building, which was on government land, but
had been dissuaded by politicians.
"Everybody was crying and saying how
could the government do this, but they still broke the temple," he told
AFP.
"For 100 years we prayed there. How could
they come to remove the temple?" he said, adding that they were given
just one day's notice of the demolition.
