COMMENT It is a comedy of a strange kind that the MIC, having abandoned the Indian community for the last 59 years or so, has the nerve to talk about representing it. Despite the never-ending leadership squabbles and conspiracies hatched, the party under the present leadership of S Subramaniam, its president and Health Minister, remains a poor and miserable choice for Indians in the country.

As I have said on numerous occasions, the party is a poor choice for Indians and there is no sign that the party and its leadership will do anything meaningful for the progress of the community that has contributed so much to the development of Malaysia.

Although Subramaniam has refused to comment on whether he was involved in a conspiracy with the Registrar of Societies (ROS) to remove the former president, G Palanivel, he seems to be speaking on matters on which he has little or no knowledge.

Recently, during a Deepavali open house gathering in Butterworth, Penang, he criticised the Penang Hindu Endowments Board (HEB) for taking over temples and properties of temples that are not within its list of jurisdiction. He probably made references to the Perai Vinaygar Temple and Muthu Mariamman Temple in Batu Kawan.

Without understanding the facts and just hearing the complaints of parties close to the MIC, he chastised the HEB for acting beyond its role and that he would refer the matter to the attorney-general (AG) to find out what whether the HEB acted within its powers as provided for in the 1906 Ordinance.

During the British colonial period, the ordinance was enacted to create an administrative unit that would manage the endowments of certain temples and burial grounds. The ordinance spells out clearly the functions of the Penang Hindu Board.

The British also created Hindu Boards for Singapore and Penang. While Singapore has become an independent country, it is not sure what happened to Hindu Board in Malacca.

Recently, a state assemblyperson from the DAP raised the matter of the board in the Malacca state assembly, but I am not sure whether he obtained an honest answer. Perhaps Subramaniam would like to enlighten the Malaysian Hindus as what happened to the Hindu Board and why the MIC in BN could not retain it and allowed it to disappear.

The Hindu Endowments Board Ordinance of 1906 makes it clear in a very rudimentary form that function and the role of the Penang Hindu Endowment Board. Although religion is a state matter as provided in the constitution, the ordinance came under the purview of the federal government in the post-independence period and it was placed under a minister.

Role limited to submitting annual reports

Currently, the minister in charge of the Penang HEB is Mah Siew Keong, the Member of Parliament for Teluk Intan and Minister in the Prime Minister’s department. Mah’s role is limited to that of submitting the annual reports of the PHEB to the Parliament as provided for in the ordinance of 1906. Beyond this, executive power of the board lies with the Penang state government and the executive council in particular.

It is the Penang state government through the appointment of commissioners annually that manages the Penang HEB. Presently, I am the chairperson of the Penang HEB and assisted by about 10 commissioners who are nominated by the Penang state executive council and consented to by the Governor.

Section 4 of the ordinance allows the HEB to take over endowments of temples, burial grounds or any other properties that are defined as ‘endowments’ or in other words, properties that have been donated to temples or burial grounds. Under Section 4 of the Ordinance, the Penang HEB can only take over temples if they are regarded as endowments and not simply any temples.

This is the reason why the HEB cannot simply take over private temples and if they are not considered as endowments.

Following independence, the Penang HEB was managed by the MIC. Even though the party managed the HEB for nearly 58 years, it did practically did nothing to advance the religious and socio-economic interests of Hindus and Indians. It merely managed the five temples under the board and conducted the Thaipusam festival by obtaining a grant of RM50,000 from the state.

Beyond this, the MIC did nothing. It failed to provide social and educational benefits for Indian children. It failed to re-value the properties of the board and as result many tenants were literally living off free on the houses and properties that belonged to the board.

In fact, we have evidence that board lost a number of properties this period, particularly burial and temple lands. The MIC being totally subservient to Umno and BN, did not boldly put forward proposals for the betterment of the Indian community.

As it is common knowledge, the Penang HEB as administrative body has changed radically after the present government took over in 2008.

During the last eight years or so, we have acquired new properties for the board, we have managed to obtain a grant of RM1 million annually from the state, we raised rentals for premises and allocated a educational grant about RM700,000 to RM 800,000 for needs of Indian students pursuing technical and tertiary education in the country.

At the same time, we provide welfare and medical assistance for those who cannot afford treatment in both private and government hospitals. The ordinance is not all about religion; it is also about the socio-economic development of the Hindus in Penang.

Under the BN, the Penang HEB had such a bad reputation. This has been radically changed after we took over. We provide assistance to small temples so much that some of them have expressed interest to be part of the Penang HEB.

Even the ROS provided us a list of 28 temples in Penang that are not managed well and asked us whether we want to take over and manage them for the benefit of the Hindu community. Given the lack of manpower, we are not position to this at the moment.

The ROS also complained to us about the management of Perai Vinayagar temple, the constant fights between three groups; the failure to hold annual elections and the Hindu community in Perai became quite alienated with the temple management.

Numerous letters and complaints

The board received numerous letters and complaints and finally we had no choice but to invoke Section 4 of the Ordinance to legally take over the management of temple to the delight of Perai Hindu residents. The matter of take-over received the support of the state and the legal adviser, before it was consented to by the Governor of Penang. We are prepared for any legal challenges!

In the case of Batu Kawan, the Penang Development Corporation (PDC) gave us the Penang HEB the ownership of all temple and burial grounds on their property somewhere in June 2015. As result the HEB took over the management of the Maha Muthu Mariamman temple and appointed the existing committee members to manage the temple.

However, a rival group consisting of MIC and IPF members took umbrage and started giving all sorts of problems. It was this group that locked up the temple and prevented Hindus in the vicinity from using the temple. Anyway, the HEB had no choice but successfully sought a court injunction to prevent the entry of troublemakers into the temple. There will be a court case on Dec 17, 2015 on the matter of who should manage the temple.

Subramaniam has failed to understand the events that led to Penang HEB to take over the Perai as well as the Batu Kawan temples. Both the temples are managed by the local residents and the question of imposition does not rise in the first place.

The takeover exercised by the board was under Section 4 of the ordinance (in case of Perai) and as result of the change in ownership. Subramaniam failed to realise that there is change of ownership in so far as the temples and burial grounds in the Batu Kawan area, are formerly under PDC.

By all means Subramaniam can refer the matter to the AG for legal interpretations of the powers given to the Penang HEB under the ordinance. Just because a colonial ordinance has been placed under the jurisdiction of the federal government does not mean that fundamental idea of separation of powers on matters concerning religion has been nullified. Subramaniam should at least consult Mah, the minister in charge of Penang HEB, for some advice.

MIC is full of problems and Subramaniam should consider how to make the party relevant to Indians in the country. Attacking the Hindu Board is not going to help him in the least.

P RAMASAMY is Deputy Chief Minister II of Penang and the state assemblyperson for Perai.