Hindu temples: Over 2000 Hindu temples in Malaysia have convened a large meeting in Kuala Lumpur this weekend. All temples, big and small, will send their representatives to this meeting. The agenda of the meeting is to formulate a strategy to remove illegal encroachments on temple lands. This meeting is taking place after the recent relocation of the 130-year-old Devi Sri Pathrakaliamman temple under government pressure from its original location.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has laid the foundation for a mosque at that site. Malaysia has a Hindu population of 2 million, but the majority population is Muslim.
Why a dispute over temples?
According to the South China Morning Post, the Sri Pathrakaliamman Temple is located in a densely populated area of Kuala Lumpur. When this temple was built, the country named Malaysia did not even exist. After gaining independence from British rule on August 31, 1957, the land of the temple was declared government property. In 2014, the Malaysian government sold this land to a major textile company in the country. Later, the textile company announced the construction of a mosque on this site, but it was necessary to remove the temple for that. In this context, Anwar Ibrahim’s government pressured the temple to move from its original location.
Now there is a controversy regarding the relocation of this Hindu temple from its original place. The Malaysian government claims that it has provided a new piece of land to relocate the temple, which is situated nearby. In response, Malaysian radicals are criticizing their own government. Radicals are questioning why the government allocated land for the temple when it was previously on government land.
Furthermore, radicals are spreading hatred against minority Hindus on social media. The temple controversy has raised questions about the land rights of thousands of temples in Malaysia – many of which were established during the colonial era when Indian labourers were brought in by British administrators.
The Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS), representing the rights of Hindus in Malaysia, has stated that the harmful impact of social media on public discourse has rendered solutions proposed by government leaders over decades invalid.
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