Rebuilding of Sri Maha Mariamman Temple begins

The controversial Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Kampung Rimba Jaya, Padang Jawa which was demolished in November 2007 set to be built on a 15,000 sq feet land near the Keretapi Tanah Melayu quarters.

The ground breaking ceremony took place today at the site in Padang Jawa which was attended by the Selangor state excos, community leaders and the Indian settlers from the former Kampung Rimba Jaya.

The temple was ordered to be torn down by the authorities as it stood in the vicinity of the Rimba Jaya squatter settlement .Its controversial demolition by the state government in 2007 had led to the Indians turning their backs on BN.

The Hindu ceremony of ground breaking started at 9.00am with arrangements of bricks with other religious paraphernalias into a 4 feet hole which will sit right below the main altar in the soon to be built temple.

Land ceded by developer

According to Selangor state health, plantation workers, poverty and caring government committee, Dr. A. Xavier Jayakumar, the 15,000 sq feet land is donated by the developer Ken Rimba Jaya for the temple.

“The land was given to state government, was ceded by the developer, all land are surrendered to the state government through (by) the developer. Then we, the state government will decided, whom to give to and how big the land will be given,” said Xavier when queried on the how the land is allocated to this temple.

He also said that all land for places of worship in Selangor is gazetted under the state secretary and the land will be managed by the temple association.

Xavier also announced that RM300,000 has been allocated by the Selangor state government for the building fund.

Xavier the temple saviour

The temple committee and community leaders in Padang Jawa honoured Xavier with garlands and had given him a title as the “temple saviour”.

According to the temple committee chairperson, Madhu Manogaran, the Selangor state government and Xavier has worked tirelessly to help and save temples in Selangor.

“We are very grateful to the state government, Tan Sri Khalid and Xavier for helping us to rebuild this temple, which means a lot to us,” said Madhu during his speech.

Xavier also said that the state government had managed to help around 70 temples by giving them lands to build the temples.

“We are prepared to do more for the Indian community, last year we spent RM2.5 million for Hindu places of worship,” said Xavier in his speech.

The temple, along with the squatter settlement of Rimba Jaya, was demolished in 2007 by the then BN-led state government as part of its Zero Squatter programme.

The demolition of the temple led to a massive protest by Indian groups and was believed to be the trigger for the historic Hindraf rally on Nov 25 that year.