THE Perak Government has been urged to come clean on the real reason behind the eviction notices issued to several historic cave temples located in the limestone hills near Ipoh.
According to Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Prof Dr P. Ramasamy the temples which were carved into the hills have a rich 150-year history and were built by early Chinese settlers in the Kinta Valley.
“For a long time, the temples were not disturbed and they existed as if they were an integral part of nature but all of a sudden there was an attempt by Perak’s Department of Lands and Mines to declare them illegal,” he commented.
Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Saarani Mohamad previously explained that the local councils had issued eviction notices to the 14 cave temples due to the fact that the operator of the cave temples were carrying out unauthorised development on the government-owned land that they were occupying.
Saarani also explained that limestone caves are sensitive to climate change, and that the construction works, made without approval from the Government, could cause the interior to collapse, harming temple worshippers and other visitors.
According to Ramasamy, if the cave temples posed a danger, the matter could have been reviewed differently and not to the extent of removing them completely, adding that remedial works could have addressed the question of safety in the first place.
“As far as I am concerned, removing the temples is an affront to the dignity of Malaysians and those who had built the country,” he remarked.
While he welcomed Saarani’s suggestion of a special committee to discuss the status of all the 14 cave temples, Ramasamy suggested that there is more to the story.
“I have a strange and uneasy feeling that is something else is lurking. This might be related to the temple sites as potential marble mining areas as in recent years, some of the limestone hills have been mined for the extraction of marble stone,” he opined.
“Such mining activities have created a ghastly sight of the hills being literally torn down for the extraction of marbles.
“The overzealous Perak department of lands and mines or Saarani himself must explain why this is being allowed to go on.”
Ramasamy went on to question why the Opposition in Perak had kept mum on the potential threat to the cave temples.
“If the cave temples supposedly pose a danger, then what about the tearing down of the hills by marble prospectors? Is nature worth being destroyed to satisfy these prospectors’ greed?
“I am not sure, but I will like to pose this question: does the notices sent to the cave temples have anything to do with the demand for more hills to be mined for marble?
“Perhaps the Perak state government can answer this question.” – Jan 18, 2022
