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Langkawi Nature Blogs
Langkawi: The MyHotel and the Taoist Temple
Mark: 01/07 June 2010
Updated: Read comment of Temple Committee in the comments below
I was sitting in a little Bar in Langkawi,
when I overheard with one ear a few phrases of a conversation, that caught my attention:
“They should not have out-rooted the Tree. The tree was old and had a spirit in it. - Yes - and afterwards the hole, where the tree was, filled up with water at high tide, and then the water was everywhere, everything was under water. There is an underground connection to the canal - and now the sea can come in and who knows, in a few years it will have washed out the foundation of the big hotel and the big hotel will fall down. - They should leave the temple alone and ask for forgiveness…”
What a fascinating, crazy story. What was going on here? What was the truth behind all this?
And then I suddenly remembered a few years back, when I was standing before the simple stage of a little temple – just around the corner. On the stage there were beautiful girls dancing and singing – and an elderly woman came up to me and offered me food and a drink for free….A lot of people, a lot of lights and music, a very good atmosphere….
Was this the same temple?? Was the Hotel the MyHotel which was probably built very close to it?
I decided to look into that and like a miracle I had the exact right connections within a very short time and got to know 'the whole story'.
The story I am telling here is not hear-say. I saw copies of the original documents proofing all the main facts plus I got an Interview with Mr. Alan Benjamin de Souza, the Resident Manager of the MyHotel.
Candles are burning here throughout the day and the night – and have done so probably for a very very long time.
When the Tree was out-rooted on the 9th of January 2010 by the management of the MyHotel, a container was found, which had been buried under the tree. The container was opened by the temple committee and it’s content examined by a specialist in KL.
In the container they found a document from Spring 1910.
This proves, that the temple has existed at this place for at least 100 years.
In fact there are 3 very old witnesses in Langkawi who remember being told, that the temple had been there since at least 1900.
So the temple is today probably 110 years old.
The tree is believed to have been 120 years old.
To put this in perspective: the first land title in reference to this place had been issued
on the 26th of July 1926 . . .
The earlier land owner had not included the temple area in his plan (29 July 2007).
When the new owner took over and then submitted a plan to the City Council to extend the hotel from 9 stories to 12 stories – and got this approved - the temple committee first thought, that with this extension of 3 stories the new owner would have gotten a fair compensation for the little piece of land where the temple is on and leave them in peace.
Asking the resident manager of MyHotel, Mr. Allan Benjamin de Souza:
Why did you out-root the Tree?
Mr. de Souza told me, that he personally did regret that they had to take this step, simply because he likes 100 year old trees also - but that the management did not see any other way anymore.
When they originally asked the Temple to leave, the Temple asked to be given a little time - and was given 1 FULL YEAR by the management.
The management did know about the meaning of the tree for the temple and offered the temple to take the tree out as a whole and re-plant it at any place the temple wanted.
But after one year nothing had happened. When the management now went to the Temple again - the temple asked for 2 more days.
They got these two more days - but they used them to make an injunction against the notice which said they had to leave within one year.
The management of the MyHotel felt betrayed and decided to take the tree down.......
What does the MyHotel management intend to do with this space?
The current building is not finished. As you can see on the picture below, there is an other section of suits (Premium Suits with Balconies toward the Sea), which is projected and also a Cafeteria with a Swimming Pool on top.
What is the outlook?
The current situation is now, that the new owner, in an affidavit, promised not to clear the temple until he would have a court ok to do so - but at the moment there is no court proceeding going yet.
In the last approval of the development plans of this project by the City Council, on the 28th of January 2009, it was again stated, that the developer had to come to an understanding with the temple, a requirement to which they did agree.
Nevertheless, should the case come before court, there is a good chance the new owner would win the case, as he is the rightful owner of the land.
In doing the research for this article I was told by several people from different religions, that in Malaysia the practice in regard to the removal of a temple is very different, depending on the religion the temple belongs to.
If the temple is a Mosque, even a small one of the 2nd category, a planned street development would never disturb the mosque but go around it.
Whereas in the case of an Indian Temple e.g. or any other Church, the place would be cleared for the new project.
I was told by the priest of an Indian temple in Kisap, that some 5 years ago - roughly - there was such a case on Langkawi where an Indian Temple was cleared, with just a few hours notice for a new street project - which then never came. *
Why didn't the temple just leave?
The ‘heart of the temple;’ is a spiritual being, which had it’s home in the Tree.
But it is not fixed to the tree.
It is not so, that with the rooting-out of the tree, the temple would have lost it’s function.
Before the new owner bought the land, the temple committee was proposed by one of it’s members to buy the land themselves (it is Free Hold Land). But the committee opted out of this and decided to buy an other piece of land somewhere else with the intention to move the temple to this new place.
With the help of a medium the Spirit was asked if he did agree to leave and to settle down on the newly bought land, but the spirit refused.
Indeed he told them, that he had enough of being asked if he would prefer to stay or to leave and that he wanted to stay where he was and would not answer anymore to this question.
With that the temple had no choice but to stay.
They have now bought a piece of land just behind the new MyHotel, about 7000 sq feet – and are willing to swap this land against the land the temple is on, which is only about 4000 sq feet.
Or they would also be willing to buy the land they are on from the owner for a fair market value.
This seems to give a few options – but it is very doubtful that the MyHotel would give up it's plans (as explained above).
It is far more probable, that the temple has to move to the 7000 sqf of land it bought just behind the MyHotel. The spirit might not be totally pleased with that - but it is not really an other place - just a few meters away - and what are a few meters for a spirit ?
Website of the MyHotel
BTW:
When the MyHotel went into action to take the tree down, the old chain saw refused to do this work. There was no way to start it. The Workers had first to get a brand new Chain Saw from H.E.Trading - to get the job done...
The MyHotel is a 3-Star Hotel and has opened it's doors for business
on the 28th of May 2010.
---------------------------------
*Comment from a reader: "On one case about The Muniswaran Hindu Temple on Jalan Kisap near to the old Kedah Marble factory...yes is was demolished without MERCY....and the widening of the ROAD is still not done till TODAY.... I did not understand WHY they had to RUSH TO DEMOLISH IT...!!!! God Knows...!!!!"
Comments
Killing a Centurion Tree is like a murdering a per by WChinner on 06 Jun 2010, 3:48 pm
Well done, Mark. This is one of your best reporting. Except for this section, in which, i found it to be in the "dark side" and i have a lot of questions:
" The earlier land owner had not included the temple area in his plan (29 July 2007).
When the new owner took over and then submitted a plan to the City Council to extend the hotel from 9 stories to 12 stories – and got this approved - the temple committee first thought, that with this extension of 3 stories the new owner would have gotten a fair compensation for the little piece of land where the temple is on and leave them in peace."
WHY myhotel management ARE ENCROACHING INTO THE TEMPLE AREA WHEN IT WASN'T IN THE PLAN IN THE FIRST PLACE??? THE TEMPLE COMMITTEE CAN SUE THEM.
WHOSE LAND THE TEMPLE WAS SITTING ON ORIGINALLY? WHY DO THEY HAVE TO BUY THE ORIGINAL LAND AFTER MORE THAN 100 YEARS SITTING ON IT?
From one of the pictures, I noticed the temple had put up a banner to stop relocating the temple. Sadly, not a lot of people here knows about this because it had not been strongly voiced out.
IF THE TEMPLE COMMITTEE WERE STRONG IN THE FIRST PLACE TO PUT THEIR FOOT DOWN IN KEEPING THE TEMPLE IN ITS ORIGINAL LAND, THE CENTURION TREE WOULD BE STILL STANDING BY NOW. THEY WERE FICKLE MINDED.
Reading about the tree was torn down, in my mind, I was rewinding to one of the scene in Avatar movie. The scene was how the HOMETREE of the Omaticaya clan was shot down by these ugly homosapiens.
If I should be the JUDGE; this would be my verdict. 3 parties are found GUILTY for the death of this CENTURION TREE. They are:
1. myhotel management - For their greed. Failing to respect and ignore the locals' tradition and culture. Killing a Centurion tree and taking away our Earth's treasure. In other words, it is like illegal logging! and please... allan benjamin desouza, do not express your regret here and shed crocodile tears.
2. City council - For their failure to protect a cultural heritage site. For their failure to maintain their ethics to protect the environment. and a potential case for the MACC.
3. Temple committee - For their failure to stand their grounds to see that the temple should stay on the original land in the first place.
A tree planted next to any temple and grew in time with it, will eventually be a sacred tree. Haven't people read about how Buddha was enlighten under a Bodhi tree? Why do Cambodians respected the strangling fig trees around the temple and yet millions of tourists would flock to Cambodia just to view that?
From this incident, it is very sad to know that Langkawi is very far worse than Penang in terms of cultural heritage conservation. Penang is very much developed as compared to Langkawi, however, I must give "kudos" to Penangites for making efforts to conserve their heritage structures and they saw this as part of tourism assets.
Btw, moving a few meters away does make a difference. It is just like moving one's house a few meters away and then alters the entire "fung shui". It is also like moving your hotel room from a beautiful scenic view to looking at a graveyard view - it is just a difference of few meters but does this make a HUGE difference??
That is one of the most ugly looking hotel, I must say. Even the old temple looks much better. This hotel outlook is very compatible with Langkawi's purple LADA building.
I shall BOYCOTT myhotel and will tell people not to stay there. The CENTURION tree will haunt the hotel, who knows.
Thank you WChinner by Mark on 06 Jun 2010, 4:35 pm
The Temple area was not on the plan of the first owner of the land, who then got stuck with the project. The new owner then implemented this area and also raised the levels from 9 to 12. These changes were then approved by the city council, stating, that the developper would have to come to an understanding with the temple.
Obviously all parties involved have made non optimal decisions:
The temple should have bought the land, when it had the possibility and not go and buy an other piece of land before asking the spirit if he was prepared to leave.
They also should have accted within the one year given - and not ask for 2 more days and then made an injunction. It is understandable that this created a feeling of betrayal.
The developper should not have included this area in the first place - but 'used it' by integrating this beautiful old tree in his plans. And he should not have chopped down the tree out of anger - even so I can understand this reaction.
The citi council - in my personal oppinion - should not have accepted a) the overbuilding of the temple area in the first place (but they might not have had the legal right to do so)and b) the upgrade from 9 to 12 levels. The building looks very lost and simply 'not in harmony' with the surroundings.
I do not know who is responisble, the City Council or LADA, but this chopping down of old trees and creating larger streets than needed and asphalt deserts should now stop.
I repeat that I was absolutely shocked when I saw the taking down of the very old and beautiful trees before what is now Pekan Rabu. For me Langkawi lost it's innocent with that. And as we see now - it was completely unnecessary.
Langkawi should realise it has TO WAIT 2 to 3000 years to get such a tree back at the same place!!
Then came the chopping down of all the trees along the street from Kuah out in the direction of Kisap. Same thing: completely unnecessary.
The important people of Langkawi still think that a Langkawi needs super large streets and high buildings to show that it is worth a lot, that it has status and that you can make money here.
NO !!!
A SMART, GREEN LANGKAWI is worth a lot of Status and Money. Wake up my friends!!
Dubai is an ecological desert compared to langkawi, Singapore the same. Don't compare Langkawi with what it is not!
Don't mention the 'Geopark' just to do 'Promotion' - LOOK what we have!
I normally try not to bring articles or comments who attack anyone. But here we are not attacking anyone personally, not a party or an organisation, we are not taking part in any political discussions - we simply would like to keep Langkawi Green - which is in EVERYBODYs interest in the end.
WChinner is an active naturalist with a lot of knowledge. Please visit her BLOG (link on the left of the page).
Mark
The following is a comment of the Temple Committee by Mark on 07 Jun 2010, 2:32 pm
From the beginning till today, the committee never agreed to shift the TEMPLE OR THE TREE. It's a BIG LIE FROM THE HOTEL MANAGEMENT that the temple committee agreed to shift. Please get the hotel management to show documentation which proof that the temple committee asked for one year to shift followed by another 2 days. The committee had written many letters to the Hotel Management, The Authority and The Police that the temple and the tree would not shift.
The hotel management uprooted the 120 year TREE without any court order even though the TREE is part of the TEMPLE PROMISE. The committee made police reports to stop the Hotel Management from cutting the TREE on 9-1-2010 when there was no court order to do so, but NO HELP CAME.
The temple committee later applied for court injunction the NEXT day on 10-1-2010 to prevent the Hotel Management to tear down the TEMPLE.
We hope the PUBLIC understands the TRUTH, nothing but the TRUTH
The Temple Commitee
argh by Sharlene Khor on 04 Jun 2010, 11:40 pm
ARGH WHY, I miss that temple and the tree so much :( I was there when they were chopping the tree down, i saw a bunch of police men just eating and relaxing. ARGH *swears as much as possible* .... they replaced it with a ... a "3-star hotel* 3.. what is this.... sigh I miss the temple...