KEDAH Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor’s justification for the demolition of a Hindu temple in the state is excessive, provocative and riddled with serious inaccuracies, said Lawyers for Liberty today.

LFL adviser N. Surendran said Sanusi’s attack against his party’s ally in the ruling pact, MIC, is also heavy handed.

“It is bad enough to have forcefully demolished the temple, it is worse to now justify it by legalistic arguments which ignore the historical context in which the temple was originally built and it’s religious and communal importance.

“To the worshippers and the local community, it adds insult to injury.

“Further, the Kedah MB’s suggestion that the MIC be outlawed for criticising the temple demolition is mischievous and heavy handed,” said Surendran, a former one-term MP for Padang Serai, Kedah.

He was referring to the PAS leader’s justification for the demolition of the 78-year-old Sri Madurai Veeran temple in Alor Star and calling for MIC to be outlawed for criticising the demolition.

Sanusi suggested that the temple was demolished as it was “built on land where it is not allowed to do so” and, as such, “has broken the law”.

Surendran said Sanusi was ignorant of the fact that the temple was built during the colonial era by railway workers.

“It was not illegal when it was built. To suggest or insinuate that the Hindu devotees set out to deliberately build on land that did not belong to them is a serious misrepresentation of the facts,” said the lawyer.

The latest temple demolition sums up the situation today where temples originally built with permission during the colonial era are rendered “illegal” by subsequent land sales or transfers decades later, he said.

“The approach taken by the Kedah government in this case as well as the authorities generally, in hiding behind the ‘illegality’ of the temple structure, betrays insensitivity or ignorance of the religious sentiments of worshippers.”

Yesterday, Sanusi was reported as saying that MIC must be outlawed if it instigates members of the public into lawbreaking, saying that the party should not defend those who have run afoul with the law.

He said this after MIC criticised the state over the temple demolition.

MIC president S.A. Vigneswaran retaliated, saying that it is PAS that should be outlawed for supporting certain international organisations with links to terrorism.

He also challenged Sanusi to ban MIC and promised to accept the outcome if the latter succeeds.

Sanusi should be prepared to step down as menteri besar if he fails to outlaw MIC, Vigneswaran added.

Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P. Ramasamy also slammed Sanusi and PAS for their acts of demolishing temples in the state.

“Indians are upset and angry simply because more temples have been demolished in the state in comparison with the earlier Barisan Nasional and later Pakatan Harapan governments.

“If the authorities can demolish temples, some of them more than 100 years old, you expect Indians to offer the proverbial other cheek?” the DAP leader said in a statement. – December 3, 2020.