The last few Indians that I met in recent days kept talking about the Temple relocation issue that is raging in KL today, perhaps because they think that if they keep on talking about it, I might write about it.
One of the hazards of being a writer, I have to say, is that once people know that you are a writer, they have a tendency of telling you about the subject that is on their mind, in the hopes that if they can interest you enough about it, you might write about it.
I am of course interested in matters related to Indians – socio-politically speaking, my two main identities are that of an Indian and working class – so matters like the temple relocation issue, are indeed matters that I am concerned about.
My concern about the Temple relocation issue however, is not for religious or supernatural reasons.
Sometimes I think that my people, and when I mean by my people here, I mean Indians, have a tendency of getting absurd when they start to get desperate in the matter of saving our temples. It is because we have a tendency to get desperate, I suspect, that we will come up with some “supernatural” story about how our temples have “divine powers”, that can prevent them for being demolished, as how the temple in Mid Valley or Port Dickson was able to display supernatural powers and avoided their demolishment.
To the uninitiated, there is an urban myth in the country that says that when the developer of the Mid Valley mall was constructing the mall, the project was beset by all sorts of troubles. It was only when the developer decided to not demolish a Hindu temple that was in the site, but instead chose to renovate and refurbish it, the story goes, that the developer’s problems disappeared and they was rewarded with a great success, to the point that Mid Valley is still one of the top malls in the country, despite there being so many malls popping up in the Klang Valley.
In Port Dickson, there is also supposedly a Hanuman shrine by the sea that was earmarked to be demolished or relocated, but before it could happen, the face of the statue of the shrine’s deity, miraculously turned its head to face the sea. The miracle was read as a sign that the deity did not consent to the temple being moved, and thus the plan for the demolition or relocation of the temple was cancelled.
Personally, I am not really that interested in the supernatural aspect that shrouds these temple issues.
In the way I see it, if there are such things as gods, and the gods of the temple truly do not wish for their temple or shrine to be demolished or relocated, then woe to those who are trying to demolish or relocate it.
If there are no such things as gods, on the other hand, then what we have in the temples are just statues and the temple or shrine that houses it is just a building , so the question of divine wrath doesn’t even arise when we demolish or relocate it.
Either way, if a temple issue is a matter related to gods or supernatural forces, I don’t see why I or anyone has to be involved in it. I am sure the gods themselves will be more than able to sort of the matter using their own powers, without me or anyone else needing to add our weight to the matter.
My issue with the relocation or demolition of the temples in the country, as it is with the case of the Pathrakaliamman Temple in Jalan Masjid India that is on going today, is in regards to the more worldly issue of Indian Identity, as opposed to anything supernatural or otherworldly.
Most Indians today have only a scant memory of their great grandparents or great great grandparents, who first came to Malaysia from India, likely because the second wave of immigration of Indians to this part of the world, which occurred in the 19th and early 20th century, were made by the salt of the earth sort, that worked as labours and coolies.
We have only scant memory of our working class ancestors, because it is only the names and faces of elites that live in the pages of history. The lives of ordinary people, on the other hand, tend to live chiefly through the habits, beliefs, culture and customs of their descendants.
When we wish to honour our ancestors, we do so not by remembering their names and faces, but by embodying their beliefs, habits and customs into our lives.
The names, faces and achievements of elites might be remembered singularly in and of itself, but the lives of ordinary people live in the community that they leave behind.
The axis of community life that our ancestors have left behind us, revolves around the temple, especially the older ones that they themselves built. It is these temples that connects us to the memory of our ancestors.
Race is literally tied to ancestors. We are Indians only because we are tied by lineage to our ancestors. If the ties between us and our ancestors are unravelled, we will simply cease to be Indians.
I have already mentioned previously, that if we Indians are not careful, we are going to be extinct within a few generations.
To become extinct, all that needs to happen is that we lose our connection with our ancestors.
It might be the case that our extinction is inevitable – there are a variety of reasons why an identity becomes extinct, and not all of them are the result of eradication – in many cases, an identity will become extinct naturally, simply because the conditions for them to continue to exist are no longer present.
To be frank, the conditions that will allow the existence of an Indian identity outside of India, in a nation where we are not only a minority identity, but a minority identity that is not distinguished in wealth, power or achievement, is not going to be easy.
The very fact that we are struggling to maintain our identity today, is proof that we are already facing existential issues.
It is not a coincidence that Indians do not have political parties to represent them, or that our temples – even old ones – are getting demolished or relocated, or our people are increasingly finding that if they will be better of if they were to drop their Indian identity, and adopt some other racial, religious or national identity instead.
Our extinction as an identity group or a race might be inevitable – nothing lasts forever after all – but even if this be the case, I think we owe it to ourselves and our ancestors, to at least face our extinction in a manner that will allow us to fade away in a dignified and honourable manner.
Our descendants someday might no longer identify as Indians – instead they might identity themselves a Malaysians or Malay or Christians or Muslims instead – but if we were to ride into the sunset in a dignified and honourable manner, at least they will remember that their ancestors were Indians, even if they no longer identity as Indians.
To cry over the temple relocation issue in KL, to me, is like crying for the loss of a tree, when the entire forest is on fire.
The relocation of the Bathrakaliamman Temple in KL is not the first, nor the last, challenge that we will face as an identity group in this country.
To spend all energy, resources, effort, time and attention defending each and every temple that is earmarked for demolishment or relocation is futile.
Like Sun Tzu said : “Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”
What we need is a strategy to either prevent the extinction of our identity or to allow our identity to ride into extinction in a dignified and honourable manner.
The death of a soldier will not be in vain if the army wins or survives.
In the same way, the loss of a temple, will not be in vain, if it at least awakens us to the reality of our extinction, and come up with a strategy, that will address the issue of the continuity of our identity, or at least, prepare us to face our inevitable extinction, in a honourable and dignified manner.
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