By T. Jayamohan
IN the week that was, two events hogged national headlines.
One was the race for the PM’s post, the other, a natural calamity where a mad gush of water from a hill caused massive flooding at the foothills and loss of lives.
This was at Gunung Jerai.
In 1992, working for a local broadcasting organization, I was atop the 3993 feet Kedah Peak aka Gunung Jerai with two engineers inspecting a Telecoms tower site where our new transmitters would be placed for FM transmission.
It was a highly restricted area and cameras were not allowed. From there one could observe the vast open sea.
Beside this tower was a small Hindu temple. A signage at the temple read like this: “This is a Muzium property.” It went on to add, “This temple structure was built not earlier than the 7th Century.”
And on a notice board within the temple premises, were many paper cuttings pointing to the history of the site.
The temple was maintained by a committee comprising Telekom Malaysia personnel and local leaders.
It is told that historians from the University Of Singapore in the 1960’s confirmed the existence of a 1200 year old shrine there.
However, as the said land was under the jurisdiction of the Minister of Telecommunications, an appeal was made to him.
Tun V. T. Sambanthan, the Minister then, had approved the building of a small temple to house the ancient shrine. Some time later, the then Prime Minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, a Kedah prince and a proud son of the state’s history, had also visited the site.
Come what may, on July 1995, without the slightest hush, the whole temple area was flattened.
In the ensuing uproar, and after lots of denial, the authorities informed that one, Idris Ismail, former General Manager of Northern Division Telekom, had instructed the demolition.
It was carried out, without any warning or notification to the caretaker committee of the temple.
For days nothing was known, until staff members leaked the incident to the media. Idris was transferred.
It became a hot topic in the following MIC General Assembly, and Samy Vellu, the undisputed leader of the Indian community, had to threaten members to quieten down.
Going back to history, with a commanding height overlooking the Merbok estuary, Gunung Jerai was actually a focal point around which a civilization had thrived some 2,000 years ago.
Experts say, it was a prominent landmark for ancient seafarers seeking to find dry land on their long voyage from the Indian subcontinent.
Smoke signals during the day and vapor signals at night were used to safely guide the vessels.
And a communitylived atop the peak to ensure the guiding beacons were operational.
Now environmental protectionist are raising red flags at land clearings and logging activities as the possible cause of the disaster.
These activities were officially approved, and the state Menteri Besar is besieged with a multitude of problems.
In fact, he had begun scripting his own predicament by tearing down a puny road side temple. Thereafter, one has led to another.
Remember, Kedah has lots of history and mysticism in it. And this peak, especially, has lots of history buried within.
And as much water keeps flowing, many wonders await to be unearthed.
*T. Jayamohan is a The Hindu Press reader.
*The views expressed here are the personal opinion of the writer and does not necessarily represent the views of The Hindu Press (THP).
