The Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) will stop demolishing Hindu temples within its jurisdiction until a meeting is held with MIC president and Works Minister S Samy Vellu.

Contacted today, Samy Vellu confirmed this, but it could not be ascertained when the meeting will be held.

Arrangements for the meeting were made this morning when a delegation of Hindu NGOs - led by Malaysian Hindu Sangam president - A Vaithilingam met DBKL deputy director-general Amin Nordin Abd Aziz.

"We asked DBKL to consult us before taking such drastic actions. They could also approach us as mediators with temple committees before taking action," said Vaithilingam when contacted.

Vaithilingam said he and representatives from other Hindu organisations will accompany Samy Vellu to the meeting.

Following a request from the minister, Hindu Sangam is presently drafting guidelines for local governments nationwide concerning the demolition of temples.

However, DBKL officers were unavailable for comment.

The latest temple to be demolished was the Muniswaran Alayam in Setapak, Kuala Lumpur on Thursday. It was torn down to make way for a highway project.
On Saturday, Gerakan Youth deputy chief S Paranjothy hit out at local governments for the spate of temple demolitions in several states. He accused the councils of being 'disrespectful' to minority rights.

He also criticised the MIC for 'failing to safeguard' these temples.

Statues destroyed

In another development, officers from the Shah Alam city council (DBSA) destroyed several statues at the 110-year-old Sri Kaliamman temple yesterday.

The temple, built by Indian labourers brought in by the British to work on the former Midlands estates, initially had its structure destroyed by council officers on May 9 as it was deemed illegal.

However, the statues were left intact. But when council officers arrived yesterday to clear a new temporary structure meant to house the statues, both the structure and statues were smashed.

The temple committee's legal counsel P Uthayakumar said the smashing of the statues was unprecedented and uncalled for.

He added that while notices of the demolition exercise were given beforehand, DBSA did not offer an alternative site for the temple which serves about 1,000 devotees.