Residents await state govt decision

ANOTHER DEMOLITION? Devotees in a quandary over temple status

SEPANG: THE residents of Ladang Teluk Merbau, here, have hit a wall over the status of a Hindu temple as their pleas continued to go unheeded by the Parti Keadilan Rakyat-led Selangor government.

Temple chairman R. Vellasamy said the over 130-year-old Sri Maha Mariamman temple will be reduced to rubble if the state showed no signs of intervention.

"This temple was built during the British colonial times on land belonging to conglomerate Hap Seng Land Sdn Bhd.

"But the company wanted its land back in April last year and issued a demolition order," he told a press conference yesterday.

Although he had asked for help from the state government, Vellasamy said the demolition was on hold temporarily due to a meeting with the company and representatives from MCA and MIC.

Former Sungai Pelek DAP branch chairman and temple advisor Tan Tuan Tat said the Indian community was saddened over the status of the temple.

"There are lots of Indian families here. If the temple is demolished, where will they go and pray?"

Tan said the conglomerate gave an alternate land for the temple to be relocated -- 8km away from its current location. But the temple management asked to be relocated to a land belonging to the state government which was only 2km away.

However, Tan said the state had ignored the request despite five letters sent between Jan 11 and May 28 this year to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and state executive councillors Dr Xavier Jeyakumar and Teresa Kok.

Temple chairman R. Vellasamy says the Sri Maha Mariamman

'Pakatan unfit to run govt'

Pakatan Rakyat is unfit to run the government as its party members and leaders give out empty promises and are embroiled in leadership problems.

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk Ahmad Maslan said this while listing 10 reasons to substantiate why Pakatan Rakyat was unqualified to administer the country.

He said he wanted to highlight the 10 points to ensure voters were not hoodwinked by the opposition's tactics during the general election.

Top on his list were Pakatan Rakyat leaders' empty promises, as many of them had not implemented their election manifesto.

"Each state led by Pakatan has its own problems. Kelantan is facing problems with quality of water supply while Penang has issues regarding the demolition of buildings.

"Kedah and Selangor are facing other problems," said Ahmad during a function organised by the Bakri Barisan Nasional at a community hall in Bakri, here on Saturday .

No awards for party members, says Karpal

Two DAP leaders came under fire from its national chairman Karpal Singh for accepting datukships from their respective state rulers, an action long deemed non-permissible to party members.

It may be back in 2008 that Perak DAP chairman Datuk Ngeh Koo Ham accepted his datukship and two years later for Selangor legislative assembly speaker Datuk Teng Chang Khim, but Karpal yesterday voiced his dissatisfaction and said such actions were non-tolerable.

"It is a long standing ruling for DAP. We constituted that in the 1990s. DAP state assemblymen and members of parliament are not to accept datukships and awards during their tenure in office.

"The two knew about it and yet they went ahead to receive the datukships. From now on, DAP will take action against members who do not follow this ruling."

On the action to be taken against those who accepted such datukships, Karpal replied: "The form of punishment will have to be decided by the party's disciplinary board after a hearing.

"There is no escaping. They will be punished."

Karpal pointed out that he himself did not accept any datukships or awards over the years.

"Neither did our senior leaders, such as Dr Chen Man Hin, Lim Kit Siang and even Penang Chief Minister Lim Guan Eng.

"We could have easily had secured a datukship and also received many awards. The Penang government is with us... but we did not."

He was responding to an article by former party vice-chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz Tunku Ibrahim, who claimed that Karpal had issued an edict prohibiting DAP members from accepting state titles and awards from Malay rulers.

Karpal said Tunku Aziz had lied and demanded a retraction of his statement.