One of the largest minority human rights organizations in Malaysia has slammed the Malaysian government’s plan to construct a 700m wide wall so adjacent highway drivers are blocked from seeing it. Hindus are a minority group in majority-Muslim Malaysia, but have roots in the nation pre-independence. Malaysia is a majority Muslim nation where a dual-justice system is used, both secular and Islamic (sharia) systems.

The Hindu rights group’s chairman questioned whether the wall was a concerted effort by both the Selangor and Federal governments to bully the religious minorities. Many secular human rights activists question as to why the the Malaysian government wants to build the wall of the sudden after increasing instances of religious intolerance have been seen. Activists also question the logic behind the hinduphobic decision as the temple has roots going back over 100 years and is a popular local tourist attraction. The chairman of Hindu’s largest group stated “Notwithstanding the indiscriminate demolishing of temples in the past, it now appears that the current state government is willing to go the extra mile and block even the sight of a temple. It is pathetic that in a multi-racial country such as this, we still have legislators acting without a full understanding of our social fabric”.

This would not be the first controversy seen against non-Muslim houses of worship in recent years – in the last 5 years there have been many Buddhist, Hindu, Christian temples and churches that have been demolished and forced to be re-constructed elsewhere. There have also been a number of controversies by local Muslim groups who oppose the building of new non-Muslim temples, such as the popular anti-hindu cow-head protests in 2009.