The news today is that the Shah Alam municipal council has agreed and found another location for the Hindu temple to be built.
So what you're telling the protesters who are probably not going to get more than a slap on the wrist for their actions, ok we give in to your demands, you win. Protesters who deliberately stoked religious sentiment by using a severed cow head, sacred to Hindus, in their demonstration?
That's just great. Just brilliant.
What the Shah Alam municipal council is trying to do is to strike a balance betwene the sentiments of the different groups (not just the protestors) who have legitimate interest/say in the construction of places of worships.
Whether insulting religion is ok has already been answered by Hishamudin's joint press conference with the protestors where he said that they are not to be blamed...or did you (conveniently) miss that?
The legitimacy of their complaint is arguable. Local bye-laws indicate that 100meters is the acceptable distance between places of worship and gazetted residential areas. The original plan placed the temple 200meters away. The new plans place the temple 300meters away.
While the SA council certainly has the prerogative to give in to the demands of the protesters (thereby opening up a slippery slope for future protests??), what needs to be done about these particular group of protesters is to throw the book at them legally for the method of their protest, which, has been deemed insulting by the Hindu community.
It doesn't matter if they say they didn't mean to insult Hindus, the fact that they did, in a reasonably obvious manner, makes them liable for it.