PENANG Deputy Chief Minister P. Ramasamy today slammed National Unity Minister Halimah Mohamed Sadique for deceiving Indians on the Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) for the Thaipusam festival in the northern state. 

He accused her of not only going back on her word but of lying that the Hindu temple committees in Penang had agreed to the rules.
 
“We never expected her to announce that the chariots would be accompanied by only 100 devotees, members of the temple committees. 

“As though there are no other Hindu devotees worth accompanying the chariots. This was a complete reversal of what was discussed and agreed upon,” he said in a statement today. 

Ramasamy said prior to her SOP announcement, the Penang Hindu Endowments Board (PHEB) had met with the minister to discuss the Thaipusam preparations. 

“In Penang, in the discussions with temple committees of the PHEB, she was quite generous about the SOPs.

“It was tentatively agreed that there would be 500 devotees accompanying the chariots, no kavadi, no panthal (drinks tents), no coconut breaking, no ritualistic head shaving, and milk offerings (would be allowed but) under a strict SOP.

“In fact she suggested a figure of 1,000 devotees to accompany the chariots, but the PHEB temple committee reduced it to 500.”

He said the fact that Halimah had visited the temples to talk to the committees “spoke well of her intentions as a responsible minister”.

“However, the official announcement of the Thaipusam SOP on January 12, a few days from the event, caught us by surprise.

“She went back on her word on the SOP that was discussed.”

He said the new SOP did not take into account the size of the temples and unnecessarily restricted the number of devotees allowed on Thaipusam.

“The PHEB temple committee asked for 5,000 devotees to be allowed at a time, but this was not allowed and reduced to 3,000.

“The (main) temple’s operating hours were reduced to from 5am to 5pm. It doesn’t make sense to have such operating hours the day before Thaipusam, the day of the event and the next day.”

He said the committees had suggested that the temple be open 24 hours for the three days of the festival. 

Ramasamy said the SOP also stipulated that only people above the age of 18 who are fully vaccinated can attend the festival.

“This is a ridiculous SOP. What about those below 18 years of age who are vaccinated?”

He said a coordinating committee meeting on January 14 had decided that the PHEB would submit an appeal to Halimah as well to the National Security Committee (NSC).

The appeal calls for 500 devotees to be allowed accompany the chariots, 5,000 people to be allowed in the temple at a time, longer temple operating hours for three days and the minimum age of attendees to be scrapped to allow everyone who is vaccinated to attend.

He added that the basic problem with Halimah and those accompanying her was the fact that they had little knowledge of the size of temples’ areas.

“It was this insensitivity that prevented them from coming out with differentiated SOPs and not to have the artificial divide between the temple in Batu Caves and the other four with two in Penang.

“Of all the temples organising Thaipusam, the Hilltop Murugan temple has the biggest land area.

“It doesn’t make sense for the Batu Caves Temple to have 6,000 devotees present at one time and the Hilltop Murugan temple to have 3,000 to be present at one time.”

Ramasamy said it was a lack of commitment, responsibility and goodwill that prevented Halimah from enforcing a reasonable SOP for the event.

“She merely engaged in a mechanical exercise to discharge her duties for a religious event that she has no intrinsic interest in.

“Although she gave the impression of consultation with temple committees in various states, their input did not factor in the final SOP.

“At times I wonder whether the pandemic and the appearance of the new variant are used more to suppress the legitimate right of the numerically smaller ethnic and religious communities.

“I agree with the need for moderation in marking the Thaipusam religious event, but not the deliberate suppression of the religious rights of Hindus in the name of controlling the pandemic.

“What kind of national unity minister in the person of Halimah promotes national unity by suppressing the religious rights of Hindus in the country?”

Thaipusam is celebrated by Hindus around the world in the month of Thai, the 10th month in the Tamil calendar, to commemorate the vanquishing of evil by Lord Murugan. – January 15, 2022.