At 5.30 am, Tony, Mahendran, Puvan and myself left KL for the Tambak Paya temple.
We joked that we might finally be the only ones there, apart from devotees.
Met the temple trustee, Harold Gomez just after the Senawang exit route as none of thought we would be able to find the place.
Reached Tambak Paya about 7.30 am.
Caught a glimpse of the racist banner put up by you-know-who. Looked like God also did not like the sight of it and had sent in forces to deal with the unsightly thing.
Reached the temple site about 7.45 am.
Devotees had not yet arrived but it appeared that the prayer ceremony preparations were already underway.
I was told that the part of the temple in the picture below was not an extension but a rebuild of the previous structure. There was no built-up size increase.
In the picture below, you will see the rebuilt temple on the left and part of the caretakers quarters visible on the right. In the middle is what appears to be a roofed and floored space with a brick wall at the rear. This, I was told, was an extension to the temple and serves as a place where the devotees can stand during devotion or have meals after.
The parcel of land at the back of the temple appears to be a rubber smallholding.
There is a house built on the adjoining lots on the left and right of the temple.
The picture below is of the house on the left.
The next is the house on the right.
My earlier hunch was correct. Neither house has been approved by the local authorities.
By 8.30 am, devotees, about 7 PKR members, a representative from the Malacca MCCBCHST, Mr. Maniam and special branch officers were on the temple grounds.
After the prayers, it was time for the devotees to have their say. All in, my guess was about 100 – 150 of them.
A press conference followed.
In the picture above, from left to right, Mr. Maniam of MCCBCHST, Malacca, temple trustee Harold, the temple priest and Encik Yusof, Mr. Jeyadas and Cik Mahani of PKR.
Finally, at 11 am, breakfast with the devotees.
I was able to ascertain from the co-owner of the land, Mr. Nadarajah, that he had attempted to put in an application for local authority approval in March this year ( yes after the fact of near completion of construction ), but for some reason could not. He then put in an application for extension of time to apply for approval. This was rejected in May, 2007.
Harold announced that the organisers of today’s event are determined to hold another ‘Acara Mesra Rakyat’ in about 3 weeks. This time they hope to have it in a surau or a gurdwhara.
For an excellent write-up of the day’s event and more information of the problem faced by the temple and its devotees please read ‘Illegal Structure : A threat to whom?’
The People's Parliament 
mahendran
July 19, 2007
thanks for the great opportunity of seeing all these first hand.
it was great meeting you Harris!
Puvanan
July 22, 2007
It was nice meeting you Haris. Thank you for the trip, it was a great learning experience!
M.L.Maniam
August 1, 2007
Thanks for Harris(long live). Sin for MB-Melaka (praying to be shorten his life and we might have another by-election). Temple is something and somehow will at least educate human to be a little good than bad. “Jangan cabar kesabaran kami”. Did any one challenged you UMNO? As a human we are looking on humanity aid to restore this holy piece of land there’s nothing to challege at. Hope each and every gods of multi racial community would ahere lessons towards the actual Satans.