Serious human rights violations occurred in the violence against the Hindus of Shah Alam when police, Shah Alam council enforcement workers and local thugs' local demolished dozens of houses, a surau and Hindu temple were unlawfully torn down

Senior and prominent human rights lawyers P Uthayakumar, P WaythaMoorthy, M Manoharan, and K Ganabatirau were unlawfully arrested handcuffed and locked up while performing their duties as lawyers to help devotees who had been arrested by police.

They are advocates and solicitors and arrived at the police station to help represent the arrested devotees, give legal advice and help to arrange bail but instead against all decent norms and provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code, arrested and held in the lock-up overnight.

This is a disgraceful and illegal act and shows the authorities' total lack of respect for rules and rights enshrined in the constitution.

I urge the attorney-general to investigate and take against all the police officers at the Section 11 Shah Alam police station responsible for these serious violations of human rights, unlawful detention of counsels and failure to follow the provisions of the Criminal Procedure Code.

The recently amended section 28A of the CPC allows a detained person the right to communicate with a lawyer of his choice upon arrest.

All the arrested persons devotees and human rights lawyers were denied this basic right that parliament has approved into law recently. The lawyers each have lodged a police report and these reports must be independently investigated and action taken against the culprits.

Action must be taken against enforcement officers for unlawful arrest, assault, criminal trespass criminal damage, defiling a place of worship (Section 295, 296, 298A and 441 of the Penal Code) abuse of powers and inflicting injuries.

On Oct 30, two temples in Selangor were issued with demolishment notices. One temple, the 100-year-old Sri Maha Mariaman temple in Kampung Jawa, Shah Alam was brutally demolished by about 500 police, FRU and enforcement unit personnel. Also 250 squatter house were demolished including a surau but the surau has been given an alternative land to be relocated.

Indian gangsters were also mobilised by private developers to instill fear among the devotees. The temple is now completely demolished and deities smashed up. The police have told devotees that they have a shooting order to shoot (unarmed) devotees on sight.

The demolition was done without proper notices or procedures. Tractors and other machinery were used to obliterate this beautiful temple worshipped by 1,500 devotees. Over 26 people were injured in the mayhem that happened there and some have been hospitalised.

Article 11 of the constitution guarantees freedom of worship. Further depriving Hindus of their place of worship is a serious violation of human rights. Demolishing places of worship without just cause is a criminal offence under the Malaysian Penal Code.

But despite numerous appeals and protest the demolition continues relentlessly. Over 300 temples have been demolished this year and many more under threat of demolition.

We must put an immediate stop to this planned and purposely executed programme to demolish Hindu temples in the country.

The demolition has deeply hurt the 2.5 million Hindus in Malaysia and we want an immediate end to this. We deserve to be treated as humans and our rights respected, or you stand condemned before the world.

The writer is DAP member of parliament for Ipoh Barat. The above letter was written before yesterday's police raid against the law offices of P Uthayakumar and P WaythaMoorthy.