A Malaysian state government searched for a new site for a Hindu temple yesterday, bowing to pressure from Muslim residents who staged a gruesome protest against its planned construction that triggered debate about religious intolerance.
Authorities in central Selangor state tried to reach a compromise in talks on Saturday with residents of the Muslim-majority neighborhood in the state capital, Shah Alam, where the temple was to be built.
The meeting descended into chaos when protesters shouted insults at Selangor Chief Minister Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and other lawmakers, according to a video of the meeting posted on Malaysiakini, an independent news Web site.
The protesters insist the temple would be too close to their homes and could generate excessive noise and traffic, which would disrupt their concentration during Muslim prayers.
Abdul Khalid said officials would postpone the building of the temple and look for an alternative location in the city.
He said the decision had been made “in order not to create any adverse reaction and misunderstanding.”
Dozens of Muslims marched with a bloodied cow head in Selangor last Monday to denounce the proposed temple. Many Malaysians, including Muslims, criticized the protesters for showing disrespect to Hindus — who consider cows sacred — and stoking racial tensions between the Malay Muslim majority and Chinese and Indian minorities who are mostly Buddhist, Christian or Hindu.
The Muslim residents’ complaints underscore long-standing frustrations among religious minorities about strict guidelines that restrict the number of non-Muslim places of worship, partly based on whether there are sufficient people of that faith living in an area.
A group of ethnic Indian Hindus holding candles and roses sought to stage a vigil in Kuala Lumpur late on Saturday to condemn racial intolerance, but police arrested 16 for holding an unauthorized demonstration, police Chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman said.
The arrests drew criticism from Indian community leaders who said it was a mark of double standards because police did not arrest any of the Muslims who paraded with the severed cow head.
Police say they are still investigating that march and have pledged to take action against those involved.
Government officials attempting to defuse public anger over the incident met the editor of Malaysiakini on Saturday to ask him to remove a video of the protest from the Web site.
Malaysiakini has refused, saying it is simply fulfilling its responsibilities by reporting the news.
The government’s Internet watchdog told Malaysiakini in a letter last week it had received complaints from many people that the video contained offensive scenes.
The letter warned that posting the scenes online was a violation of the law.
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