After a century old Hindu temple in Ladang Ebor, Shah Alam was torched last month by unidentified assailants, a group of people have come together to form a committee to protect Hindu temples in the country.

"Very often we see developers demolish old temples without going through proper legal procedures or without giving an opportunity for the temples to solve any problems," said the committee's secretary T Saravanan today.

"Sometimes, temples are mysteriously burned down by people we don't know," he added.

Unregistered temples

There are about 3,500 registered temples in the country as opposed to more than 17,000 unregistered ones. It is these unregistered temples that usually face the dangers of demolition.

They are either demolished by local authorities because they are not registered or managed by a lawfully recognised committee, or because the land they occupy has been bought by developers.

The large portion of unregistered temples are those that have been established decades ago in rubber estates while a small number is managed by individuals who then pass it on to their family.

Relating the latest incident involving the Sri Kaaligambai Kamadeswarar temple in Shah Alam, Saravanan said the temple was demolished in the early hours of June 14.

"Only two days earlier, we averted an attempt by someone to burn down the temple," he told malaysiakini.

However he said that on June 14, a group of men came to the temple and demolished it before setting it on fire.

"We don't know who did this and we don't want to speculate at all. However we are saddened that our police reports on the first attempt was not thoroughly probed," he said.

It was this incident which prompted Saravanan's group to form the committee.

Following procedure

He added that the committee would serve as the front line of defence for all temples that face demolition.

"All demolitions must be done with a proper court order and we will ensure that all legalities concerned are adhered to before any temples are demolished, or better still, stop the demolition all together."

He also said that Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia pro-tem secretary general P Uthayakumar will act as the committee's legal advisor.

Among the decisions taken at the committee's first meeting on July 13 was to propose that a centralised body such as the Malaysian Hindu Sangam was referred to before any Hindu temples are relocated or demolished.

The committee also wants Inspector-General of Police Norian Mai to investigate the police inaction over the reports in the Ladang Ebor temple matter.