Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) demolishes the Sri Muneswarar Kaliyaman Temple in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 10. Pic: Nazir Sufari/The Malaysian Insider
KUALA LUMPUR: Federal Territories Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor said Hindu temples in the city which are squatting on land will be asked to move.
He said the ministry was checking the status of these temples and will act against them.
“Yes, I am checking and I am firm … I will tell them to move. I will give them a new place and I will gazette the new place as a temple,” he said commenting on a claim by a non-governmental organisation, which had called itself Jakun Malaysia, that 23 Hindu temples were due to be demolished by the Kuala Lumpur City Council (DBKL).
This is in the wake of a controversial demolition carried out on the Sri Muneswarar Kaliyaman Temple in an affluent business area in downtown Kuala Lumpur.
Malaysian Insider quoted Tengku Adnan as saying that the ministry was not only going after Hindu temples occupying sites illegally but also surau purportedly spreading deviant teachings.
“Not only temples but there are also some surau which I am going to tear down,” he said.
Tengku Adnan said that if this is not done, such places of worship are bound to be a “huge problem”.