MIC president S Samy Vellu has been told to stop dithering over the demolition of Hindu temples and get the cabinet to act immediately on the matter.

The yet-to-be-registered Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim) said he should ask the cabinet to issue a written directive to all local authorities to stop the demolitions, set aside permanent sites and include such provisions in future infrastructure plans.

Samy Vellu, when opening the Malaysian Hindu Sangam annual general meeting over the weekend, had reportedly acknowledged that local authorities had a tendency to forget Hindus when allocating land for places of worship.

The Star also quoted him yesterday as saying that an alternative site should be provided as soon as the decision is made to demolish a temple.

Responding, Prim pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar said in a statement that MIC should take "a more solid position" on matters of religion, particularly that of temple demolitions.

"Local authorities should be warned to comply with Article 11 of the Federal Constitution (freedom of religion) and not violate Section 295 (defiling a place of worship), Section 298A (inciting racial hatred, causing disharmony, disunity, or feelings of enmity, hatred, ill-will or prejudicing the maintenance of harmony or unity, on ground of religion) and Section 441 (criminal trespass) of the Penal Code," he said.

"Samy Vellu and the Malaysian Hindu Sangam must also stop their 'shadow play' by stopping their piecemeal proposals with the view to cheat and misrepresent the Malaysian Indian/ Hindu community by giving them the impression that the whole problem is solved."

He rejected the "weak attempts" by MIC to address the issue to date, such as setting up a five-member committee.

The country has thousands of Hindu temples and shrines, many built on private or plantation land by Indian migrant labourers before independence in 1957.

The land has since been acquired by local councils or state authorities, who argue the temples are illegal buildings. Demolitions in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan have accelerated lately.