PAS MP Khalid Samad today rubbished denials from former Kedah PKR Youth chief Zamil Ibrahim and stood firmly by his claim that the latter was an “Umno agent” who tried to bribe a PKR lawmaker to cross over to Barisan Nasional (BN).
The Shah Alam MP today stressed the Zamil’s denial yesterday was “ridiculous and did not make sense”.
“If he (Zamil) is not an agent, why did he say there were PKR MPs who met with him? What power does he have?” Khalid (picture) asked today when contacted by The Malaysian Insider.
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.”
Khalid claimed that the brother of Shah Alam Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Nawawi was one of the two men who were caught on video carrying the cow head. Khalid claimed that the brother of Shah Alam Umno division chief Datuk Ahmad Nawawi was one of the two men who were caught on video carrying the cow head.
Datuk Noh Omar, the Umno state deputy liaison chairman and Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, accused by Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad (below) as the catalyst to the protests.
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad (PAS)
Shah Alam MP Khalid Samad has blamed Umno for the shocking display of bigotry two days ago, saying the brother of the local Umno chief was one of those carrying the cow’s head to protest relocating a Hindu temple.
The PAS man’s allegation comes in the wake of accusations by other Pakatan Rakyat leaders that Umno is trying to destabilise the state government by using race baiting tactics such as painting the Malay-Muslim community as under siege from non Malays.
A group, claiming to be Muslim residents of Section 23 in Shah Alam, the new site of the temple which is to be relocated, held a demonstration outside the Selangor state secretariat, dragging a severed cow-head, an animal sacred in Hinduism, which they stomped and spat under the gaze of the riot police.
He cited the actions of Datuk Noh Omar, the Umno state deputy liaison chairman and Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister, as the catalyst for the residents’ recent inflammatory protest. Noh had made at least one visit to the proposed temple site in August and told the media that he would seek an injunction to stop the relocation adding that the Selangor government was going against the Federal Constitution by ignoring the sensitivities of Muslims, who make up the majority of residents in Section 23.
Asked about some residents who claimed that he had lied to them, Khalid replied that he had in fact not lied when he ran for election saying that he had always insisted on being fair, including to the Hindus even though they were a minority.
“They have rights too,” he said, pointing out that the 150 year old temple was not relocated earlier when PKNS had developed a housing area all around it and that there is only one temple for Indians living in Sections 19, 20 and 23.
“They don’t have a right to reject a Hindu temple. Their right to have a surau has been fulfilled. Hindus also have a right to have a temple for the 3 sections and we also want to fulfil that right.
“The Hindus also don’t have the right to reject a surau and each community has a right to have a place if worship. We have fulfilled the right of the Muslims,” he said.
“If the temple was placed in their backyard or smack in the middle of their community, I can understand if it feels awkward. But now it is far from their houses. There is no infringing on rights of Muslims. I take into account distances. They assume too much and feel they have more rights than what they have,” the PAS leader added.
He added it was not true that the state government was not willing to meet residents and when he met them in June, the requisite approvals for the relocation were still pending from PKNS, the owner of the land, the Shah Alam city council and the state government itself.
He also said that he will attend a meeting between the state government and residents on Sept 5 to discuss the burning issue.
“We are willing to listen to reason but the reasons must be sound. However, I don’t think we will entertain racist or prejudiced views.
“We should condemn prejudices and move to be more tolerant. There is a lesson to be learnt otherwise there will be another round of racist talks, speeches and acts. It’s unfortunate that after 52 years of independence, this is the kind of situation we have,” he said.
Umno has often been accused by Pakatan of trying to use race, religion and other tactics to frustrate the Selangor state government. Just weeks after Pakatan swept into power in Selangor last year, some Muslim residents in Kuala Langat made an issue over a centralised pig farm, a project that was actually mooted by the former Barisan Nasional state government.
Most recently, a controversy erupted over the aggressiveness of the Malaysian Anti Corruption Commission (MACC) in wanting to grill Pakatan Selangor state lawmakers while former mentri besar, Datuk Seri Khir Toyo who has been accused of corruption over the cost of his palatial Balinese style mansion, has not been probed.
The controversy took an ugly turn when Teoh Beng Hock, a DAP political aide! Was found dead just outside the MACC headquarters in Shah Alam on July 16 after he was brought in for questioning.
Khalid delivered a parting shot at MACC, referring to comments by Section 23 residents action committee chairperson Mahyuddin Manaf, who said he was mystified by the appearance of the cow head at the protest.
“There are a lot of mysteries in Shah Alam. Nobody knows how Teoh Beng Hock died. If you ask MACC, they will probably say that the cow committed suicide,” he quipped.
