Illegal Structure. A threat to whom?

Illegal structures are generally permanent buildings or the likes of it which do not have a town council's permission. The general rule here that it should not be an obstruction and a threat to the general population or users of that particular building.
A few months ago, this very issue cropped up in Pandamaran, Selangor, where a State councillor nominated by the Government (here, here and here) had built his mansion. However, till this day, the then illegal structure still stands.

In Tambak Paya, Malacca, a Hindu Temple, the Sri Maha Peiachiamman is facing this very threat of demolition by the Town Council (MBMB- Majlis Bandaraya Melaka Bersejarah - Town Council of Historic Malacca). This temple, which houses the Sri Periachi Amman considered by Hindus to be the protector of babies and mothers, has it's own devotees (estimated to be around 400 families from far and near) and has been in existence on this private land for almost 16 years. Prior to this, the deity was housed in a makeshift temple on the grounds of the Union State Estate, situated about 1/2 a kilometre from the current location. Mr Nadarajah, the joint land owner of the current temple site, further adds that in its previous location in Union Estate, the makeshift temple stood for almost 20 years. All in all the Sri Maha Peiachiamman has a history of almost 40 years.

MBMB officers on one of their visits to the temple grounds had issued a notice to the trustees that the structures which had been rebuilt was to be torn down due it being illegal. The temple had undergone reconstruction due to its previous wooden roof truss and pillars which had been damaged by termites. The application by the temple to submit the necessary building plans had been turned down by the council, as did the appeal in March 2007. The council had given the temple a dateline on 15th July 2007.
On interviewing a house and landowner in the vicinity of the ground in question I was told that he too does not have the necessary approvals for his property which had stood for almost 20 years. Therefor, it is safe for us to assume that there are more properties under this council which should also be considered illegal.

Speaking to the head priest, it was ascertained that there were complaints from immediate neighbours to the town council resulting in this action. Further in a roundtable discussion with the Village head of a nearby Kampung, the Priest was told by the village head that he did not liked the idea of having another Hindu temple, in their Kampung.
Indeed, this Kampung does have two temples, one the Mariamman Temple, and this, Sri Maha Peiachiamman. Evidently, it is the belief of Hindus that god exist in the many different Devas and Devis which leads to their preference to worship their Gods in tradition to their own needs and preferences. But the very question exist still, is this Temple a threat to its devotees and those who use enough it that warrants a demolition? Why has the town council not taken the application into consideration which was made good by the Temple trustees?

To stress the importance of having multiculturalism in our diverse population of Malaysia, En. Yusuf of Parti Keadilan, in his own capacity, had co hosted the 'Acara Mesra Rakyat' event with the temple trustee, Mr.Harold Gomez, and had invited us to see for ourselves the importance of having the temple continue its service to the Hindu community. In all, there were probably 100-150 people which attended this event. From this number at least 8-10 of them were Police Officers of the Special branch from both the district and state levels. It was told to me that this is a common practice by Special Branch to gather intelligence.

I suppose if you do care as a Malaysian, you should know that it is now up to us to instill this muhibbah spirit of tolerance and acceptance of each and every Malaysian, whatever our believe. Our coming together to support each other to strengthen the bond between cultures reflects well on our upbringing and nation building as we celebrate 50 years of independence.
What transcends from these actions by the local government and the likes will further spur us to keep up this spirit of support. But let's not just talk, for now you should also know that each of us have a role to play, that we shouldn't be happy to just make the team, and watch the game from the sidelines.

(pictures here of the temple and Acara Mesra Rakyat event, courtesy of Haris Ibrahim)

UPDATE - 5:00pm 30 July 2007
This morning, the Malacca Town council and scores of Policemen as well as Federal Reserve Unit (FRU-Generally used for crowd and riot control) personnel proceeded to tear down the 'Illegal structure' of the Sri Maha Peiachiamman in Tambak Paya.
Interesting enough, the Temple head received a call last night from one, Mr Krishna, purpotedly from the Malaysian Hindu Sangam Society, informing him that no action will be taken yet.
Despite, the please of the devotees, as well as support from NGO's the council see it fit to demolish this structure.

Who determines which structure is illegal and fit to be torn down remains my guess.

But let this be a wake up call..again.
Yes, if you are Malaysian, not of a presumably 'Superior' race, with a man given notion that one religion stands above all, let this be it.
For there are others out there who share the same sentiment, that religion in this country is of a free choice, your right to practice it is also yours and yours alone to choose.
But even so, you have to decide that the fight, if at all, has to be fought by you.
The temple was given adequate support, by Lawyers who gave their time to help bring this case to the right recourse. However, even having consulted the temple officials, and the devotees, the temple officials and devotees chose not to provide the required sworn affidavits to support their own case.
And since, those who were marginalised could not bring themselves to fight the fight, hence the result was inevitable.
It was like stepping onto the ring with a world champion. You are not going to win.

God help those who help themselves. Remember that, but for now, I symphatise with the 300 odd families who use to go to this very temple for their prayers. To the childless couples that wishes to seek the intervention of their deity , do try a written petition to the Town Council.
Maybe, they can direct you to a temple that has the right Deity and Permits!

When Push comes to shove. . . .

Sunday morning, with a nice cup of brewed coffee and some toast, glancing through the papers would be the order of the day.
No I did not choke, matter of fact , I had a smile on my face. This was the news that caught my eye.

I guess, when you stand in a corner of room, and from there observing the antics of others, it will not be long that others would notice you too. Perhaps the corner that you are in offers a little more then the center of the room or the rostrum.
In my years of following his blog, it appears to me that this is a guy that does not shy away from the truth. Getting to the bottom of it and ensuring that those that were affected by it gets the real story. My instant thought was that he will not be able to deliver his best if he was to take 'instructions' from the party bosses. But who am I to assume? I am sure that with the agenda that this party is up for, and with the support of seasoned politicians, just maybe, Jeff will give them a good belting.

But whats even more interesting is the 'we are lining up several more personalities to be unveiled soon' thingy.
I know who I am supporting WHEN the General Elections come . . .you?

Blogs and its impact....What the Malaysian Govt does not know.

It seems more so now then before that the Malaysian Government is in denial.
In denial of the many things that have gone wrong in this country, and trying to stifle the many voices of discontent in the blogs. Do your search and see how many blogs there are echoing that sentiment.
Blogs are here to stay. The world over, people are using this tool to make themselves heard. How can anyone be wrong in voicing out their opinion? All these actions against bloggers in Malaysia, first with Nat Tan, then with Raja Petra, is not making any good news for Malaysia.
Rocky and Jeff were invited to judge in a regional IT and Media award night held in Bintan, and my do they have their handful trying to respond to the many different questions on the going ons in Bolehland.

I know what I will ask if I was an attendee of that conference. Actually, I bet you if you do have a list of attendees, and if you were to visit their blogs, you will be sure to find out their thoughts on these actions. Don't believe me, read Rocky's blog!

RPK interviewed by Police

Raja Petra Kamaruddin has been officially interviewed by the Malaysian Police presumably based on a police report that was made against him by the UMNO Information Chief.
RPK was to have made himself available at the Dang Wangi Police District HQ (the same Police HQ where Malaysian Blogger, Nat Tan, was held some weeks ago.
It seems that RPK was still being questioned and presumably held by the Police.
Zorro has some news that RPK is till at the police HQ, and some bloggers intend to make it known that this is simply not acceptable.

Update 26th July
RPK emerged from the interview at approx 7.14pm. According to Zorro, and 3540 Jln Sudin who were at Dang Wangi Police HQ despite the heavy downpour, Marina met them along with RPK after some 8 hours of intense questioning. The Sun has its report here.
So it has now come down to insults. Didn't a particular Minister insult some 40 odd % of Malaysians in a last general Assembly? Or was it my imagination? I certainly do not recall any lenghty interviews at any Police District HQ....

My Malaysia. . .

What does it mean to me?
In my almost 38 years of existence, I have spent most of them here in this country, I call my home, Malaysia. 50 years of independence and I wonder if we are heading down the right track.

Now we have been told officially that Malaysia is an Islamic state. Bernama has its report here.
In the Federal constitution, though recognising Islam as the Religion of the Federation, 'other religion may be practised in peace and harmony'. OBE's input here.

I have always referred to this country as mine, one which I earn my living, pay my taxes, and share the peace and harmony with my loved ones as well as my friends and strangers too.
But, I am having a different thought now. Why? For one, I am one of those who blogs incessantly on pertinent issues, on wrongful practices, and critical of the current administration.
In the past two weeks alone, I attended a vigil for a fellow blogger who, in my eyes was wrongfully arrested. I attended an event, which was in support of a Hindu temple which was threatened to be demolished. Now I am told that this country I live in is Islamic. When did it change, I have no idea! I have in my closest circle of friends who are Muslims, and what wonderful people they are (this is of course not to say that my other friends are not equally as wonderful!). It all seems to me now that the Government is all out to draw that line (Islam or not) and has put us all into this tumble dryer!

They are not certainly not concerned about illegal Bungalows built by their pilfering officials, they are not concerned about their wanton spending of our country's resources (can anyone explain to me why the hell we need another bridge in Penang?), and now because Malaysia is classified by the DPM as an Islamic country, perhaps, it will be easier to just rule the land with the Syariah! Oh, forget about what our forefathers intentions were, by the way! here

As a law abiding citizen, I am more concerned about the violence I have to face (was just threatened yesterday by my sister's neighbour because her car was parked next to their house on the other side of the road! Forget about the police, they did not even lift their finger), the threat that we are facing from illegal immigrants (a recent report indicated that there were far less medical check ups made by these foreign workers, which meant that they have now gone underground), and the many issues that plagued my daily life. Like, women being compromised in their workplace (for example, being terminated for being pregnant!), dirty tap water, councils spending millions to beautify a roundabout, cheating cabbies, implementation of impractical practices by the council, education system that may not be that educational (that the education minister sends his children overseas) and the list never stops!

But all these don't mean nuts, if we do not get the right people at the top.
If the company does not perform, its the Management that has to go!
So, my Malaysia is not what it is supposed to be, to me at least, but what about you?
Is this what you want for your children?

Nat walks free on bail.....

He'll take it! Nat Tan, the Malaysian Blogger who was detained under the Official Secrets Act
(Malik Imtiaz has the explanation of the OSA) was released on Police bail sometime after 5.00pm yesterday. Interesting enough, we will have to wait for the Attorney General's chambers decision to charge him for 'wrongful communication', which was originally the crime that Nat had committed (section 8 of the OSA).

Whats even more interesting is that there are some anonymous commentators who see Nat as a PKR (political party, KeAdilan) loyalist, and deserves no support from others.
The commentator further imposes that he thinks the ISA/OSA should be maintained for it is possible one day that we may see our foes being charged with it. We wish no harm onto others, and I sincerely believe that the ISA and OSA are acts that Malaysia can do without. Wishing that this act to be used on friends or foe ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE.

The solidarity shown during Nat's detention is clear, Joe Public do not want injustice to prevail in Malaysia. Bloggers DEFINATELY do not want to see their freedom curtailed!
If we allow our voices to be silenced, we might as well allow them to demolish our homes too!
And take away our computers.....

Nat is out. Nat is out. Nat is out.

Cyber Crime in Malaysia. (What you DON't have to do to get charged)

Cyber crimes. We hear that all the time. Fact is we get all these emails that could lead to fraud, too, most of the time. So what does constitute cyber crime? In this age of wired information, I managed to get to a document posted on the Royal Malaysian Police website. Now, this source should be credible right?
Written by Supt.Lim Hong Shuan, the document goes on to list Cyber Crime as prescribed by the Computer Crimes Act of 1997, Digital Signature act of 1997, and the Telemedicine act of 1997.
What the act outlines and the provisions of each of this act, I cannot get hold of.
But this much I can tell you.
A fellow Malaysian Blogger has been detained since 13th of July 2007 right here in the capital city of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur. Whats even more interesting is that the team of three law enforcement officers claimed they were from the Federal Unit, Bukit Aman, only to be found out later that Nat (www.jelas.info) was held for investigation in the district headquarters of Dang Wangi.

Details are sketchy, but I have met Nat, he is not a gangster, and I do not know him to be a criminal either. Heck, he looks more like a librarian! But do visit these sites for more info, Nat is in a circle of friends that work tirelessly to give readers their true account of daily happennings.
Perhaps, it could be one of their stories that has landed him in this predicament.
But since when reporting is a crime? Oooops, does this mean that I am committing one now?

Your guess is as good as mine....You see, you really DON'T have to do much to get into trouble!

Read here, here and here for more on Nat.
Lets stand united now.

Who is Nat Tan?

Do I hear Tractors and Wrecking balls?

Well, it seems with all those machinery (and I don't mean the Big Election Machinery of the mighty BN) more like the big tractor and wrecking ball MAY BE at it again!

A little bird, one that is constantly chirping facts, told me of an impending big wreck to be executed within the week.
Hmmm, my friend Zorro did post a very interesting subject recently.

But this remains to be seen if its going to be big enough to draw attention.

UPDATE 14 July 2007 - 1.35 pm
Ah...so the little bird was right after all.
Please take a look a the attitude of the surrounding village where the temple in question is to be torn down, and tell me which part of that spells 'Tolerance' !
(here)
See you there?

Excuse me Mr Officer, but I have just beaten the red light . .

Well, would you? (Sorry to green lovers looking for more on Hyde Park!, I need another week for graphics!)
I mean, would you go up to a policeman and say that? Come on! Honestly....
(Walski's take here) and thats precisely it.
How about the way you see it?
If its black or white?

'Hyde Park' for KL?

I just couldn't help it. Another 'bright' idea. 3540 Jln Sudin has her take here.

If you have read the 'Kilometre of Shame in Subang Jaya', please do stay tuned to this blog for the 'Acres of Shame in Shah Alam'.

Our authorities have this notion that building something big and making a strong statement during launching is the hallmark of a project well done! Forget about maintenance, forget about enforcement, and oh, if enforcement does take place, it is usually more important to fine couples holding hands then to get litterbugs and contractors that reneged on their service!

Don't believe me, but once you see the picture evidence, I am convinced that our Greens will still have a chance to stay that way.

(come back Friday, please! - I shall be away for two days and not able to post the pix until then)