JOHOR BAHRU, 22 Jan 2018:
The Sultan of Johor, Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar yesterday played the role of a mediator in resolving the issue on the demolition of a Hindu temple in Seri Alam recently.
This happened when a few representatives of the Dewa Shree Sivasakthi Shree Sinnakaruppar Devotees Association, accompanied by state executive council member R. Vidyananthan, were granted an audience to meet the sultan at the Mados Office, Istana Bukit Pelangi.
Photographs of the meeting had been uploaded on the sultan’s official Facebook page. Also present at the meeting was Tunku Temenggong of Johor, Tunku Idris Iskandar.
In his entry on the Facebook page following the meeting, Sultan Ibrahim said he would ensure a new site would be provided by the state government to rebuild the temple.
Sultan Ibrahim also informed that he and Tunku Idris were offering cash assistance of RM100,000 and RM70,000 respectively to the temple committee to cover the costs of relocating the temple to the new site.
He also urged all quarters to give their full cooperation so the matter could be resolved amicably.
Prior to this, it was learnt the state government had offered the temple management a piece of land at Jalan Persisiran, Seri Alam – which had been reserved for the temple site – but it was rejected as the temple management had insisted on remaining at the existing site.
The 80-year-old temple recently sparked controversy when it was demolished on Jan 11 after the landowner obtained a court order to take it down as negotiations with the temple leaders failed.
– Bernama