THE Perak government must seize the opportunity in addressing the issue over the eviction of cave temples in the state by drawing up a policy that will protect these places as a heritage sites and tourist attractions for the future, a state lawmaker said.

There has never been a policy for these temples, some of which are more than a century old, and calling for their eviction will simply result in new ones being built in more remote areas, Simpang Pulai assemblyman Tan Kar Hing said.

He suggested that a special committee be formed by the Perak government to resolve the dispute address two key areas – legal technicalities that have embroiled these houses of worship in the current controversy and a management policy for these temples.

Tan said the special committee should have two teams working simultaneously on each of these areas.

He said the committee has not yet been formed, although the temples which have received eviction notices have submitted the names of their representatives to the state government.

“The special committee should have two teams – one to look at technical issues faced by the temples which have been asked to leave, and a second team to draw up a cave temple management policy,” the PKR state lawmaker told The Malaysian Insight.

The dispute should be addressed systematically, as although over a dozen temples received eviction notices, there are more cave temples than that in existence.

“As to whether all the rest have no title deeds, this still needs further inspection by the authorities,” Tan said.

The temples facing eviction include some that have been in existence for more than a century, and are important historical, religious and cultural sites to Taoists and Buddhists.

One of them is the 155-year-old Nam Thean Tong temple. It is also a major tourist attraction, drawing nearly 600,000 devotees and visitors before the Covid-19 epidemic.

The state in the past had left these temples to flourish, without legal documentation and legislative control in place. Without title deeds, the temples cannot benefit from the state government’s grants or funds to houses of worship for different religions.

Tan said the only avenue for legislative control, at present, is the Land Act, which complicates matters if a temple does not have a title deed.

“If it is on government land, it is not approved. If it is built too close to the limestone mountain, it is also not approved.

“What we need is legislation that as long as certain conditions are met, approval can be granted. Then the whole situation will be different,” he said.

“Besides being religious and cultural centres, the cave temples are important as tourist attractions, and if we are to reap their potential, we need to help them solve the land use problem first.”

The setting up of a special committee was announced by Perak Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad after public outcry over eviction notices given to 19 cave temples in the state by the Perak land and mines department earlier this month.

Recognising the religious and political sensitivities involved, Saarani said the committee would consist of representatives from both government and opposition parties, as well as from the affected temples.

According to Chinese-language news reports, Saarani said that the state executive council in December last year took note that cave temples were occupying government land as well as reserved land.

He said the reasons for the eviction notices were safety concerns arising from illegal land occupation, and unauthorised development and modification of cave structures, as well as damage to the natural environment.

When announcing the special committee, he said its aim would be to determine whether the temples can obtain legal status through other avenues, such as a temporary title deed.

The issue also sparked a war of words across the political divide, between MCA and DAP.

MCA intervened with the land and mines department and announced that the eviction notices had been withdrawn, but the office disputed this, drawing an uproar and leading to the formation of a special committee.

Tan said the issue must be addressed quickly and rationally, as he feared that after becoming a political bargaining chip, it would become a racial issue next.

“There are some quarters already commenting on why the state government allowed non-Islamic religions to use these caves without any payment.”

Asked about talk that the state’s real agenda behind the eviction notices was to mine the hills for marble, Tan did not think this was likely.

He said none of the temples that received eviction notices are located in designated mining zones.

“If we suspect that these sites have been secretly converted into mining areas, I also doubt that, because the first condition for conversion into a mining area is that the local government must hold a public hearing, but there is no news about this,” he said.

He cited the Nam Thean Tong temple as an example. It is located near a residential area and is also next to a main road.

“According to regulations, it would not be possible to mine here or to change the area’s designation into a mining zone.

“But I also can’t say for sure if nothing else is happening, because I’m not in the state administration,” Tan added.

He said it is high time the state finds a way forward for the cave temples without jeopardising them, as otherwise more will be built in remote areas.

This is because official permission to build non-Muslim religious sites is difficult to obtain.

“Some temples, which have been in operation for a long time, tried to apply to the state government. But there is no policy on this for non-Muslim religious sites, so approval depends on the situation at that time and officers involved.

“Since our Federal Constitution assures the people of freedom of religion and beliefs, then followers of all religions should be treated fairly.

“But what non-Muslims are finding is that this freedom of religion does not come with an equal policy to protect their religious sites,” said Tan.

Founder of the Jubaoyan Thai Buddhist temple in Simpang Pulai, Kong Mun Hon, said he has been trying to get a land title for the last three years. The authorities arrived to inspect the site and gave their verbal approval, but to his surprise, he was given an eviction notice earlier this year instead.

Trying to stay positive, Kong said it was good that a special committee will be formed to look at the matter comprehensively, as eviction will not resolve anything in the long run.

“If the state government closes a few instead of solving the (land title) problem, new temples will just continue to appear, and the problem will be repeated.”

According to the state land and mines department, there are 41 cave temples in Perak. Of this, 14 are on government land, 24 on reserve land, and three are on private land. – January 26, 2022.