KUALA LUMPUR: For 40-year-old business owner R Arindran, the Sri Uchimalai Muniswaran Temple was more than a hilltop shrine in Rawang, Selangor. It was the centre of his world.

He does not know when the temple was built or who built it, but he remembers the daily ritual as a schoolboy of balancing on the back of his father’s motorbike as they navigated the red earth path through a sea of green landscape, the only “road” to reach the shrine. 

His late father - a rubber tapper - became a caretaker of the site in 1995. In those days, the temple served the rubber tappers who worked in the estate, seeking guardian deity Lord Muniswarar to protect them from the dangers of the wilderness, which Arindran said included snakes and black leopards.

But today, he is the one looking to try and protect the guardian deity. 

When CNA visited the site on Feb 23, a bright yellow police line had encircled the structure after a self-styled enforcement group allegedly took a backhoe to its walls earlier that month without informing local authorities or engaging temple management.

Four men were arrested, and put under investigation for mischief, trespass, damage to a place of worship and acts likely to breach the peace. A backhoe used in the demolition was seized, but the men have since been released after their remand application by the police was denied by the Shah Alam court. 

And in the early hours of Feb 25, a group of men armed with shovels and sledgehammers among other things demolished the entire structure under the watch of the police.   Videos of the demolition of the temple were widely shared on social media. 

Arindran managed to save four statues of deities, which he said were temporarily stored in his brother’s lorry while he searched for a more permanent home for them.  “I am not angry but I feel heartbroken about what happened,” he told CNA on Feb 23.

“I respect other people's place of prayer and I wished there was respect for the temple as well.”  Arindran acknowledged that the land the temple is located on does not belong to him or the temple, but claims that the owners of the land - the Kubra Foundation - should have gone through a court process instead of demolishing the temple.  

The foundation reportedly sought the men’s assistance to clear the unauthorised structure, stating that the land was earmarked for a housing development project aimed at the underprivileged. The demolition of the temple by civilians was also criticised by several activists, saying the manner it was handled could trigger more serious social tensions and undermine communal harmony.