Dr Cheah Soon Hai: Gerakan condemns the act of abolishing temple during Wesak Day
Gerakan head of Central Bureau on environment, safety and quality of life cum Derga State Assemblyman, Dr Cheah Soon Hai today expresses his disappointment and disbelief towards the City Council of Sungai Petani for allowing an act of demolishing a Guanyin temple on Wesak Day. Dr Cheah said, although the court has given a court order to demolish the temple on 16 March 2011, there were still some negotiations between the committee of the temple and the developer on the date to vacate the temple, the sudden act of demolishing the temple without prior warning shocked the committee of the temple. Demolishing a temple during Wesak Day only shows how insensitive and disrespectful the city council is towards the devotees; such incident should not have been allowed to happen.
Dr Cheah pointed out that Pakatan Rakyat's leader Anwar once said that there will not be any demolition of temples in the states governed by Pakatan Rakyat's government, however, the incident which happened today clearly showed the incompetence and lack of credibility of Pakatan Rakyat's government.
Dr Cheah is in the opinion that any action related to religious matters should only be taken upon obtaining the consent from the devotees and committee of the religion center. Even if the city council has obtained the court order to proceed with the demolition of the temple, by regulation, the city council still have to give 14 days notification to the temple's committee before taking any action. The act of demolishing a temple on Wesak Day without prior notification will only lead people to think that the city council is acting out of malicious intention.
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