The Sri Maha Mariamman Temple in Dengkil, Selangor, has rebutted claims that it is “illegal”, insisting it has been ready to relocate for years, but the Selangor government never completed the paperwork to formalise replacement land allocated in 1997.

Temple Preservation Action Team (Tepat) chairperson Arun Dorasamy claimed the temple has been in a bureaucratic deadlock since 1997, as its relocation site was never gazetted under the temple’s name.

“This is the first time in 60 years that the temple has spoken out. Why now? Because it has been labelled as an ‘illegal temple’ and accused of unlawfully occupying the land.

“If you're a wise man, and you know the whole chronology, nobody will say that. In this case, the temple has been wronged,” he said during a...