Pix show the section 23 Shah Alam marching to the Secretariat with a cow head. Cow are sacred to the Hindu in Malaysia.
The act of stepping on the cow head.
Parading a cow head.
Putting a cow head in the entrance of the Secteriat.
The town hall meeting on the temple relocation issue degenerated into a verbal free-for-all.Seat are the Shah Alam mayor Mazalan Md Noor , Menteri Besar Selangor , Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad,Batu Tiga state assemblyman Rodziah Ismail.
Tension were high in the town hall as 2 parties clashes over the relocation of an Hindu Temple in the majority Muslim Malay area section 23. Is this Malay/Muslim sentivities or pure racism.
Menteri Besar Selangor Khalid has call off the relocation of the temple following today's incident laden town hall meeting. Where both sides where hurling insults and no solution were found.
Residents of section 23 Shah Alam were very emotional charged and it was free for all hurling insults and each other , those who support and those who against the relocation of the temple.
Some 30 to 40 Indian residents of Section 23 have made themselve heard at the town hall meetings. They are speaking out to support the relocation of Sri Mahamariamman Temple in section 23.
Little were discussed as the same group in the cow head protest prevented any discussions instead hurling insults and disrupting the town hall meeting.
MBSA officers step in to separate protesters as arguments become heated at the town hall meeting. Menteri Besar Khalid were trying to calm the protestors.Later with no solution found Khalid decided to postpone the relocation of the temple to section 23 Shah Alam.
“Muslim sensitivities” was used by the Malay residents of Section 23 as the central reason to reject the Hindu temple relocation, but when some were asked today what these “sensitivities” really were, none of them could give a straight answer.
One Malay lady said it will cause traffic jam. Another Malay guy said they do not like the smells and temple will only get bigger.
Some said , too many temples will made Malay uneasy and such.Yet Malay residents of Section 23 said they felt their religion, Islam, had been profoundly threatened by the temple relocation proposal by the Selangor Pakatan Rakyat government.
It prompted them to take to the streets with a cow’s head recently to defend their religion; it drove them to discard civic consciousness and adopt extreme measures, to go as far as insulting another religion, knowing full well such action could lead to physical confrontations.
Proceedings barely got off the ground before the protesters started shouting and booing at Khalid, along with Khalid Samad (MP for Shah Alam), and Shah Alam mayor Mazalan Md Noor.
Despite calls for calm, the ruckus continued with the upset residents yelling “Penipu!” (liar!) and “Bodoh!” (stupid!) each time Khalid attempted to address them.
Tempers frayed at one point, with rowdy protesters standing on their chairs while shouting.
One Indian Section 23 resident confronted a cow-head protester, prompting MBSA enforcement officers to step in to defuse the situation.
Tensions appeared to ease after that, but the protesters started to get worked up again when Batu Tiga state assemblyman Rodziah Ismail took to the podium. The residents accused her of ignoring their views when planning the relocation of the temple, pelting her with shouts of “Tipu!”
Khalid Ibrahim has said the state government will now reconsider the location of the temple, and that the state development board (PKNS) would need to come up with an amicable solution. This did not placate the irate residents any.
With no clear outcome possible from the emotionally-charged meet, aides led the mentri besar away. The meeting ended with the situation exactly as it was, with no resolution in sight.
Last Friday, a group of 50 protesters from the Section 23 area in Shah Alam held a demonstration in front of the state secretariat building to protest the planned relocation of the 150-year-old Sri Mahamariamman Temple to Section 23 from Section 19. They brandished a severed head of a cow at the protest.
The 150-year-old temple was built on a plantation which over the years was developed into housing estates by the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS). No provisions were made to relocate the temple, which is now in the middle of a Muslim majority area.
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A total of 211 residents from Section 23 attended the meeting at the Shah Alam City Council (MBSA) auditorium and more than one third noisily expressed their objections to the temple and refused to even listen to explanations from the mayor, representatives of the Selangor Development Corporation (PKNS) and the state government.
Khalid Samad also lashed out at Datuk Seri Khir Toyo for continuing to propose all temples in Shah Alam to be relocated to a cluster site in Section 18.
The previous state government had spent RM600,000 to prepare the site meant for seven temples but the idea failed to take off because the temple committees had rejected the idea.
Khalid said the previous state government had first prepared the site, then attempted to arm twist these temple committees to move.
“If I was Dr Khir, I would be ashamed to admit that I have spent so much money without solving the issue.”
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