MCA’s practical action plan to resolve Ipoh cave temple issue

On recent news reports of eviction notices issued to cave temples in Ipoh, let us take a closer look at the chronology of the entire event.

8 January: Many cave temples in Ipoh were served eviction notices by the Kinta District and Land Office beginning 7 January, on grounds that the temples are in violation of Section 425 of the National Land Code 1965 for unlawful occupation and building on state land.

A total of 19 cave temples were given a 30-day notice to vacate.

In the evening, MCA Deputy President and MCA Perak State Liaison Committee Chairperson Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soon immediately contacted the Perak Lands and Mines Department Director to understand the situation, and called for an emergency meeting.

9 January: Gathered by Perak MCA, representatives of the affected cave temples attended an emergency meeting with Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soon at 8pm at the MCA Perak Headquarters to look for a solution. Around 20 temple representatives attended the meeting.

10 January: MCA Perak arranged a meeting between the temple representatives and the Perak Lands and Mines Department, which resulted with the Lands and Mines Department’s Director revoking the eviction notices. The Nam Thean Tong Temple Board Chairman Chan Kwai Hong pointed out, the Perak Lands and Mines Department Director agreed to revoke the eviction notices during the meeting, as well as to establish a special task force on land usage.

11 January: DAP Perak Chairman Nga Kor Ming led a group of DAP representatives to meet Perak Menteri Besar Dato’ Sri Saarani Mohamad, pushing for the legalisation of the historical Ipoh cave temples, and obtained the MB’s agreement to debate the issue in the state assembly meeting on the 12th.

12 January: The Perak MB announced that the eviction notices are still valid, but the government is in the process of engaging with the management of the temples to discuss the safety aspects of the limestone caves. 

According to this series of events, we can clearly see that MCA Deputy President Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soon gathered the temple representatives together to meet the Perak Lands and Mines Department Director. During the meeting, the Director expressed that he has no intention to evict the temples, agreed to revoke (batalkan) the eviction notices, and also to establish a temporary committee to continue discussions, including plans to gazette the land for temple use.

However, after DAP Perak leaders met with the Perak MB on the following day, the MB claimed that the eviction notices are still valid. What did DAP Perak convey to the MB, leading to the current decision?

DAP Perak must explain themselves to the Chinese community and the affected temple bodies what their involvement in the issue was, leading to the issue’s recurrence after the eviction notices were reportedly revoked.

Evidently, the issue only relapsed after they met with the Perak MB. Hence, why is DAP trying to push the blame onto MCA?

We are appalled by the DAP’s clout-seeking attitude throughout this episode. Hence, we urge DAP not to complicate matters further and instead place their priorities on serving the people.

During Dato’ Dr Mah Hang Soon’s time as a Perak state Executive Council member, he planned for the publication of the book titled “Trails of the Nanyang Chinese: History and Legends of the Cave Temples in Ipoh of Malaysia”. This was a collaborative effort by UTAR lecturers Tan Ai Boay and Prof. Toh Teong Chuan, as well as the Perak Non-Islamic Affairs Committee, who conducted a detailed research on the 49 cave temples in Perak to document their historical and cultural values.

Similarly, in this episode, MCA was just patiently solving the problem through constructive actions. Not only did MCA avail ourselves immediately, we also arranged the meeting between the temple representatives and the Perak Lands and Mines Department Director, and resolved the issue within the meeting. MCA did everything in a practical, effective, and timely manner, instead of promoting our actions and chasing political clout.


Mike Chong Yew Chuan
MCA Spokesperson

-MCA Online-