A senior minister in predominantly Muslim Malaysia on Monday denounced the destruction of Hindu temples one week after thousands of ethnic Indians held a rally protesting alleged discrimination.

Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, an official in the prime minister's office, described action by local authorities in recent years to demolish temples -- sometimes while people were worshipping -- as insensitive.

The senior minister noted that the latest site to be torn down was a 36-year-old temple in central Selangor state, destroyed while devotees were praying in early November.

"It was stupid of the officials not to think about looking into sensitive matters like this and I believe it could have been done in a better way," he told reporters.

Mohamad Nazri said Selangor chief minister Mohamad Khir Toyo had been told to handle religious issues with sensitivity and that he did not think the leader had a "personal vendetta" against Hindus.

"We must be sensitive and not demolish temples," he said, though he noted that the sites had to be taken down to make way for development projects.

The government was shaken by a mass rally on November 25 that drew 8,000 people protesting alleged discrimination by the Muslim Malay majority, against ethnic Indians who make up eight percent of the population.

The rally was officially in support of a multi-trillion dollar lawsuit accusing Britain, which brought Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers in the 1800s, of being at the root of Indians' economic problems.

But it was more squarely aimed at the ruling United Malays National Organisation (UMNO), which stands for Malay interests and has ruled the nation since independence a half-century ago.

While Malays control the political scene and the Chinese population is dominant in business, Indians complain they run a distant third in terms of wealth, education and opportunities.

Language and religion are sensitive issues in multi-racial Malaysia, which experienced deadly race riots in May 1969 between Malays and Chinese. Hundreds were killed in the incident, traumatising the nation.

Activists say that social injustices faced by Indians and indiscriminate destruction of temples fuelled the rare protest.

"I think the destruction of the temples was one of the many issues that led Indians to hold a rare protest. They wanted to vent their frustrations," said S. Arulchelvan, spokesman of the rights group Voice of the Malaysian People (Suaram).

On Sunday, Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denounced the discrimination claims by Indians, and accused activists of stirring up racial conflict.