November 6, 2014

Tourism and Culture Minister willing to take matter to court if need be.

KUALA LUMPUR: Tourism and Culture Minister Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz today stressed that the land surrounding the 110-year old Vivekananda Ashram building in Brickfields should be declared a national heritage site.

He said the National Heritage Department has once again offered the Vivekananda Ashram Board to gazette it as a national heritage site recently even though the offer made on November 13, 2008 was turned down.

We are awaiting a reply from the board to keep the historical site as it is more than 100 years old. We will also be meeting Federal Territories Minister (Tengku Adnan Tengku Mansor) to discuss how to ensure the site is maintained and not to allow the developer to carry out any demolition of the historical building, he told reporters after visiting the site in Brickfields, here today.

He said any artifacts and building structure which is more 100 years old is a national heritage.

Nazri said the ministry did not rule out the possibility of bringing the matter to court if discussions and efforts to keep the heritage site was not successful.

According to media reports, the Vivekananda Ashram board of trustees plan to redevelop the site in Brickfields into a 23-storey apartment had sparked off a spate of controversies including protests from the Indian community in the area.

The board of trustees defended their action that the move would provide funds for schools and charity homes under its care and for its future plans.

For the Indian community, the Swami Vivekananda Ashram is a symbol of its presence in the country with the first school built by Ashram in 1914.

Originally posted here:
Nazri: Vivekananda Ashram should be preserved

Swami Vivekananda was ahead of his time in fostering interfaith dialogue and we should preserve his memory.

KUALA LUMPUR: The Swami Vivekananda Ashram in the Brickfields suburb of Kuala Lumpur, currently at the heart of a struggle between developers and the heritage conscious, has won a vote of confidence from Catholic Bishop Dr Paul Tan, the Jesuit-educated prelate who heads the Malacca-Johor diocese.

The ashram was built in 1904 to mark the visit of the venerable Swami Vivekananda to Malaya.

Swami Vivekananda was ahead of his time in fostering interfaith dialogue, and because that effort is so important to our country now, we should preserve his memory, preferably in the form we find it today, said Bishop Paul. The swami introduced Hindu philosophy to the West and helped interfaith consciousness.

The ashram is a venerable building and gives character and resonance to an area where there are several places of worship.

If the ashram site is redeveloped, lamented Bishop Paul, it will be a loss not only to Hindus but also to Malaysians in general because Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim and Christian places co-exist here side by side.

The Bishop noted that the Brickfields area in general, where Little India dominates, is a wonderful testimony to our countrys multi-religious character and should be preserved.

This is what makes us unique, added the Bishop.

Parliament heard on Monday that the people who own the land on which Swami Vivekananda Ashram sits have plans to develop the site into a 23-storey condominium block and eight-storey car park.

They have apparently refused an offer by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism to gazette the Swami Vivekananda Ashram as a heritage site.

Link:
Bishop Paul Tan wants ashram preserved for posterity