Malaysia is a melting pot of races and religions. While most would boast being tolerant of one other, it can’t be denied that toes do get stepped on occasionally.
The temple at Batu Caves is a venerated area, especially during Thaipusam. However, when it isn’t Thaipusam, the temple will often have visitors like tourists and worshipers. Recently, a temple goer took offence to their temple stairs being treated like an exercise area.
Batu Caves is a fairly famous tourist spot in Malaysia. Known for the tall, golden statue of Lord Murugan and having to climb 272 steps to reach the temple, it is a popular area to drop by at, even if it’s not to pray. However, yesterday (13th February), a netizen took to her Facebook to make a complaint about some visitors.
According to the netizen, she is a frequent temple goer who visits every Sunday morning. However, she often sees visitors using the grand flight of stairs as a training area. She hit her breaking point yesterday when she witnessed people jogging and hiking the stairs.
“I went to the counter next to the steps and spoke to a lady sitting behind the counter,” she wrote. “I asked her why they were jogging here and no action (was being taken as) this is a temple…” The lady supposedly explained they had tried asking visitors not to. They also had a sign board saying not to exercise here previously, but had yet to be replaced after the area was renovated. “(I) hope this will stop as soon as possible and (I) hope to see the signboard again in upcoming days,” she ended. “Don’t forget, this is our temple and is (here) for us to pray (at).”
Netizens have had mixed feeling about the whole issue. Some agree with the original poster’s point of view. “Batu Caves temple, (from the stairs to) the cave is still a temple,” one opined. Another stated that the temple is a place of worship and should be respected. “(There are) many other places to exercise,” they pointed out, with someone else adding that the Putrajaya steps would do just as well.
However, others claimed they had been using the steps as a jogging area previously and there hadn’t been any problems. “Sometimes the priests (weren’t keen to) go up, they (would) ask me to help bring (things) up to the temple, like flour, milk etc.” one shared. Another incredulously asked if temple goers pray on the stairs.
This isn’t the first time there has been a problem with joggers at Batu Caves. Previously, a ban was created on the activity in 2016. At that time, there had been plenty of opposing views regarding the issue as well.
Well, we can certainly understand the netizen’s request. After all, it must be irritating to have your place of worship treated like a gym. However, it can also be argued that the joggers aren’t purposefully disturbing worshipers with their activity. Hopefully authorities can come up with a resolution soon.
