Kuala Lumpur, Sep 2 (Inditop.com) Malaysian Home Minister Hishamuddin Tun Hussein Wednesday brought together various parties to resolve a dispute over relocation of a Hindu shrine that had led to some protesters displaying a severed cow head.
The residents’ committee of the Section 23 locality in Shah Alam, capital of Selangor state where the incident occurred, will meet the Malaysian Hindu Sangam Council Friday to resolve the issue.
The 150-year-old temple was earlier located in Section 10.
They are also expected to issue a joint statement to “clear the air” about the use of a cow’s head in last Friday’s protest by the committee against the relocation of the temple, Hussein told the media.
He said after meeting the committee members that he was “convinced” there was no political motive on the part of the protesters, the Star Online reported.
The protesters had stamped and spat on a cow’s head during the demonstration Saturday. The cow is considered a sacred animal in Hinduism.
“They also had no intentions to raise racial or religious tensions by using the cow’s head as accused by certain groups lately,” he told a press conference after the meeting.
The residents said their protest was ‘hijacked’ by political activists from different parties.
Hossein said the organisers of the protest had “not realised that someone had brought a cow’s head to the demonstration until the last minute”.
He added it was not the first instance that irresponsible parties had resorted to using the heads of animals in protests.
The incident had prompted Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to order authorities to handle the situation with care.
The Hindus form a bulk of the nearly two million ethnic population that is about eight percent of the Malaysian population of 28 million.
