Update: More Hindu Temples Destroyed

July 11, 2006

Source: Asia Times

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/HG11Ae01.html

On July 11, 2006 the Asia Times reported, "Police in riot gear and shouting through megaphones recently arrived to move out devotees and pave the way for demolition of a Hindu temple on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, which local ethnic Indians say has stood in the area for more than three generations. A group of angry worshippers who refused to obey orders were doused with water cannons and beaten by baton-wielding security forces. P Velu was among five Indians who resisted the government's evacuation order. He alleges he was assailed by a handcuffs-wielding police officer, showing three stitches on his forehead while recounting the violent incident. 'The government has no respect for Indians,' Velu said. 'The pain of seeing our temples being brought down is much worse than the beating I took at the hands of the police.' Ethnic tensions are on the boil in multiracial Malaysia as a nationwide government campaign to demolish unregistered Hindu temples gathers steam. Kuala Lumpur-based rights groups estimate Hindu temples are being bulldozed at the rate of about one a week and that the destruction drive has recently accelerated in areas around the capital. Most of the temples are being destroyed on the orders of local councils to make way for new state development projects."