Kedah Menteri Besar Muhammad Sanusi Md Nor has proven himself to be a racist and religious extremist and it is untenable that he should remain in power, said Penang Deputy Chief Minister ll P Ramasamy today.
Ramasamy said Sanusi had hurt the feelings of non-Muslims, Indians in particular, in the PAS-ruled state, and had no option but to make his exit now.
The DAP leader said Sanusi had attempted and failed to justify the destruction of Hindu temples, some more than a hundred years old, in Kedah.
“Under the pretext of ‘lawful’ demolition, the Kedah authorities destroyed a century-old Hindu temple in Alor Setar some months back to make way for a motorcycle park,” said Ramasamy, who is the Penang Hindu Endowment Board chairman.
“A few days back, another Hindu temple in Kuala Kedah was demolished to make way for a futsal court.”
He asked if the need for a motorcycle park and futsal court was so urgent that Hindu temples had to be destroyed to make way for them.
In the first place, he said, Kedah had plenty of state land available for such public amenities.
He said Sanusi had showed that he had little respect for non-Muslims in the state.
“It is up to the PAS leadership to ascertain whether he should remain as the menteri besar of Kedah.
“I think with these demolitions, Sanusi’s position as a menteri besar has become untenable.”
Sanusi has come under fire in recent days over the destruction of the Sri Madurai Veeran temple in Alor Star.
He had said that the temple was demolished as it had been built on land without permission and had as such “broken the law”.
He had next called for MIC – an ally in the ruling Perikatan Nasional coalition – to be outlawed for criticising the demolition.
MIC president SA Vigneswaran said it was PAS that should be outlawed for supporting certain international organisations with links to terrorism.
He challenged Sanusi to ban MIC and promised to accept the outcome if the attempt should be successful.
Sanusi should be prepared to step down if he fails to illegitimise MIC, Vigneswaran said.
The MIC leader has said in public that Sanusi is an incompetent menteri besar, as he has no respect for non-Muslims in the state.
He also hinted that if Sanusi desires, he could even demolish the Hindu-Buddhist heritage structures built during the Sri Vijaya and Chola periods located in the Bujang Valley, Merbok in Kedah.
In doing so, he might even argue that structures were built without the “permission of the city or municipal councils”, yes, about a few thousand years ago!