Malaysian lawmakers have condemned a group of Muslim protesters who trampled on a severed cow’s head in protest at the building of a Hindu temple, and remained defiant on Sunday over the act.  In the latest religious dispute to erupt in multi-cultural Malaysia, local media said 50 Muslims on Friday took the head of the cow — a sacred animal for Hindus — to the central Selangor state government office and stamped on it.

Source: AFP

State police chief Khalid Abu Bakar said the protesters will be investigated for sedition, but the demonstration organiser told AFP they would not apologise and rejected responsibility for the incident.  “There is no point in us apologising as it was not our work. The cow head was brought in by an individual and we don’t know that person,” Mahyuddin Manaf, who led the group of local residents, said.  “Maybe that was just a way of expressing the anger. We just want the Hindu temple to be relocated to another area as this is a Muslim-majority area,” he told AFP.

And therein lies the dangers of protests.  A stray individual decides to do something perhaps not explicitly in the agenda and the organisers cannot control what happens next.  The easy way out is just to deny responsibility, which is what happened.  I do not abhor protests, mind you.  It is right of the peoples and residents should have the freedom to voice their dissension.  However, organisers have a civil responsibility.  The descecration of the cow was uncalled for and may worsen ethnic tensions.   It really wouldn’t hurt Mahyuddin Manaf to condemn the act whilst sticking to his disagreement on the temple relocation.  By his implied endorsement, he could inadvertently added fuel to the fire.  What if some hindu desecrates a Quran in return?

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