KUALA LUMPUR – Two Chinese temples in Perak have received eviction notices on Friday, prompting concern among their management teams.
The Nam Thean Tong Cave Temple trustees are hoping that the Perak menteri besar will step in and revoke the eviction notice served to the 155-year-old temple in Ipoh.
Trustee chairman Chan Kwai Hoong confirmed that the Kinta district land office has given the management 30 days from January 7 to vacate the premises.
“It is true that we do not have a lease. We have been trying to apply for it for decades but were not successful. There were also no reasons given to us as to why our applications were not approved,” he told The Star.
However, he hopes that the menteri besar will give his application due consideration and be open to gazetting the land the temple sits on for religious use.
While the Nam Thean Tong Temple is not as popular with tourists as the nearby Sam Poh Tong Temple, it has its fair share of visitors and historical significance.
The other temple in the same boat is Gopeng’s Gua Naga Mas Cave Temple.
Although the temple was only established in 2013, its application for a land lease has not been successful.
It was set up soon after the fossil of a tiger was found lodged in the namesake cave, said Persatuan Penganut Naga Mas committee secretary Tan Kai Siang.
He was quoted by the English daily as saying that the committee had hoped to get a temporary occupation licence and work with the Perak government to draw tourists.
Previously, it was reported that the century-old Sakyamuni Cave Monastery on the foothills of Perak’s Gunung Kanthan was also served an eviction notice.
In November, a representative said it was still awaiting a court decision to determine the fate of the temple.
Perak Menteri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad had asked for the matter to be settled amicably. – The Vibes, January 9, 2022
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