A group of residents today submitted a memorandum to the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) appealing for it to prevent the demolition of a 40-year-old temple which sits on land slated for development.

The Sri Muneeswarar Amman temple in Taman Kanagapuram - along Old Klang Road - is located on a plot of land which is partly owned by the temple, the other half by private developers.

The temple has also been registered with the MPPJ since 1978.

The memorandum, which was signed by 501 people, was received by MPPJ secretary Intanjuddin Ismail on behalf of council president Abdul Karim Munisar.

No coverage

Speaking to the press later, Taman Kanagapuram residents' association pro tem chairperson S Selvaratna said the official had assured that the matter would be looked into immediately.

"The MPPJ secretary said he would meet with the (president) and come up with a decision within two weeks. He said he would also start looking at our petition immediately," he said.

Earlier, Intanjuddin had refused to allow press coverage of his meeting with the residents, saying, "We want to read what it is about first and then you can interview us."

PRM vice-president and lawyer R Sivarasa, who was also present, said the temple was built on a plot of state government land, which was partly owned by the Jaffna Co-operative Society.

In 1991, the portion of the land owned by the society was bought over by the temple committee with donations from devotees.

However, the state-owned land at the surrounding residential area, including the temple plot, was sold to a private developer in 1986.

The developer, Lee Man Construction, later re-sold the land to another company, Peter's Brickworks Sdn Bhd which has since decided to develop the area into a complex of low-cost flats.

Two problems

According to Sivarasa, the temple currently faces two problems resulting from its location.

The first is the incorporation of the developer-owned portion of the temple land into a low-cost housing project.

"The company is developing the area now and they want to push the temple out. This would destroy the temple. That section of the temple is where the main shrines are located.

"The temple has offered the developer a smaller portion of the temple compound where the quarters of the priests and workers are located but (the company) has not agreed to it," he said.

Another dispute, he said, was over the size of the land legally owned by the temple.

"The temple said it owns 6,474 sq ft but the developer is now saying that the temple is only entitled to 3,750 sq ft. So this is another issue which has to be dealt with," he added.

Sacrifice appeal

Selvaratna, a member of the residents association, said the developer had already proceeded with the construction of the flats complex.

"We can already see excavators there and they are working on areas close to the temple premises. But they have not made any attempts yet to demolish the temple," he said.

In an appeal letter to the developer dated May 19, temple secretary V Ponniah asked the company to "sacrifice" to a smaller section of the disputed land where a multi-storey carpark is to be built.

"We appeal to your goodself to sacrifice the proposed car park site to the temple on humanitarian grounds so that we would have (some) area to rebuild the temple comfortably for the well-being of residents of Kampung Muniandy and Taman Kanagapuram," said the letter, a copy of which was made available to malaysiakini .

However, Ponniah said the developer has yet to respond.

Management staff of Peter's Brickworks were not available for comment.