This man has just come out of a ‘battle’ with the Malaysian enforcement officers, trying to protect a Hindu temple which the authorities want demolished.

Sadly, this ‘battle’ is happening quite regularly all across Malaysia with the authorities going all out to bring down the number of unregistered temples. And with more such temples demolished, more disgruntled Indian Malaysians come to the fore - like this man.

If the government is not careful, it is in danger of breeding Hindu radicalism.

Before I go further, let’s look at the temple situation in Malaysia. There are tens of thousands of temples here – from the well-established and registered to the unregistered zinc-roofed and illegal sheds attached to some dwellings.