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Friday March 7, 2008

Temple ‘demolished by opposition duo’

By SARBAN SINGH

SEREMBAN: It was opposition party members who demolished a Hindu temple in Rantau near here on Wednesday but they blamed it on the Barisan Nasional, said Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan yesterday.

Mohamad said the manager and a clerk of Linsum Estate had given the order to demolish the 50-year-old temple in the estate, claiming that they were both members of opposition parties.

“When the estate workers tried to stop them, the two said there was nothing the Barisan could do to help them.

“They even told the workers that they would like to see how many votes Khairy Jamaluddin and I would get after the demolition,” he said, when met at his operations centre at Rantau.

Khairy, who is Umno Youth deputy chief, is contesting the Rembau parliamentary seat while Mohamad is defending the Rantau state seat.

Mohamad said Barisan supporters lodged a report at the Rantau police station on Wednesday, following the demolition.

“About 400 Indians gathered at the police station later the same day demanding justice.

“Luckily, Datuk Azman Hasan (state Umno secretary), who is also a local, managed to pacify them,” he said adding it was a cheap stunt to incite hatred against the Barisan.

“I called the estate management and was told that the two would be dealt with seriously. If possible, I don't want them to work in this estate anymore. What they did was unacceptable.”

He said the management had called him to apologise over the incident and had agreed to rebuild the temple.

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