In Malaysia’s capital, a 130-year-old Hindu temple is facing the threat of being relocated because the land it occupies in the heart of Kuala Lumpur has been sold to textile giant Jakel, which aims to build a mosque on the site.
It is located directly across Jakel Mall on the crowded Jalan Masjid India street, in the center of Kuala Lumpur. For many generations, the temple’s main deity, Dewi Sri Pathra Kaliamma Amma, has been worshipped by devotees.
The Temple’s History
Originally, the Dewi Sri Pathrakali Amman Temple was built on government land before it was sold to Jakel in 2014. The company’s late founder, Mohamed Jakel Ahmad, purchased the plot with the plan of building the fourth mosque in the area and gifting it to the Muslim community.
With this, the threat of demolition raises concerns about the loss of history, heritage, and cultural diversity. The situation also reflects broader challenges related to urbanization, religious tolerance, and the preservation of historical sites, particularly in countries with diverse populations like Malaysia. The temple was built before Malaysia’s independence.
Shockingly, the mosque that is set to replace it has already held its groundbreaking ceremony. According to the media sources, “The mosque is to be named Masjid Madani”. Earlier, the temple committee had come up with a request for an alternative parcel of land that would be accessible to Hindu worshippers in the vicinity of Masjid, but the request was not accepted.
P Ramaswamy, Chairman of United for the Rights of Malaysians Party (Urimai) stated that the move has a deeper meaning. As per his statement, he questioned why the temple’s land was picked for a mosque and why the land was sold to Jakel Trading before its status was settled.
He further inquired why a different site was not taken into consideration for the mosque and highlighted that there was enough property closeby that didn’t need the temple to be moved. The company received permission to start constructing a mosque at the site in 2021 but delayed the process out of respect for the process of relocating the temple.
Rising Islamisation In Malaysia
The incident highlights how Islamisation is rising in Malaysia, which is leading to hatred for Hinduism. Since Malaysia’s independence, the Indian community that established itself in the Malay peninsula during the colonial times has been facing institutionalised discrimination.
With the hope that the new government that replaced UMNO- the political party ruling the country throughout will ease the pressure on Indians, Mahathir Mohammad-led dispensation just not only kept the older discriminatory laws but added new ones, as per the reports of ‘Asia Times’.
The New Economic Plan (NEP) of 1970 provided Muslim Malays much easier access to jobs, housing, medical care, and education. Non-Malays’ participation in the economy was suspended, and prevented newcomers from enjoying social mobility.
54% of the Malaysian Indians work on plantations and as urban labourers and didn’t get timely payment. According to the Yayasan Pemulihan Social (YPS), nearly half of the 2.6 million Indians in Malaysia are at the bottom of the income ladder.
The government also openly follows an anti-Hindu agenda. Hundreds of Hindu temples have been demolished by the authorities in the past few years, many of which were more than a century old.
There have been several atrocities towards Hindus in Malaysia. Religious violence against Hindus is also common. A group of Muslims chopped off a cow’s head in the capital city of Kualalumpur and paraded it in the procession from their mosque to the state headquarters amid chants of Allahu Akbar to protest the proposal of building a temple in their neighbourhood.
773 Hindu Temples In Selangor Province
There are 7 lakh Malaysian Indians in the Selangor province of Malaysia and there are about 773 Hindu temples which are allegedly built on government land.
According to the 2020 census in Malaysia, 6.1% of the people in Malaysia were Hindus. Hinduism is the fourth largest religion in Malaysia. The total Hindu population in Malaysia is 1,940,000. Hindus constitute 5.8 % of the total population of the country.
Hindu Temples Were Also Targeted In America
Recently a Hindu temple in America was targeted. A BAPS Hindu temple located in Chino Hills, California has been vandalized and obscene comments have been made on the walls. Now a statement from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has also come out. Not only this, slogans like ‘Hindus go back’ and PM Modi were written on the walls of the temple, which has worried the local Hindu community.
Temples In Bangladesh Continue To Be Targeted
In February (2025), the Indian Parliament was informed that in the last five years, 152 Hindu temples were demolished in Bangladesh.
Attacks On Hindu Temples In Canada
Canada remains in the headlines for attacks on Hindu temples. Talking about the last one year, more than half a dozen temples have been attacked by fundamentalists.
In July 2024, the Hindu temple BAPS Swaminarayan Mandir in Edmonton, Canada was vandalized by separatists.
In January (2023), the Gauri Shankar temple was desecrated by Khalistani extremists in the city of Brampton, Canada.
In February (2023), the Shri Ram Temple in Mississauga, Canada was similarly targeted by Khalistani fundamentalists.
In April (2023), the BAPS Swaminarayan temple in Windsor, Ontario was targeted. In August (2023), Khalistani extremists similarly targeted the BAPS Swaminarayan Sanstha temple in the Metro Vancouver area.
In September (2023), an incident of vandalism was reported at Shri Mata Bhameshwari Durga Devi in Surrey, British Columbia province.
Hindu Temples On The Verge Of Extinction In Pakistan
There were 428 big temples in Pakistan in 1947. According to a survey by the All Pakistan Hindu Rights Movement, at the time of partition, there were a total of 428 big temples in the neighboring country. Gradually their number kept decreasing. The lands of the temples were occupied and shops, restaurants, hotels, offices, government schools or madrasas were opened there. Today the situation is such that only 20 big temples are left here.
Comments