Our analysis


1. Red lantern temple; 2. Inside the Clementi Hindu temple
 

• Home-built dwellings
• Possible illegal land occupation
• Many deity statues arranged in home-style
• Located very near a railway
• Have banana trees and vegetable fields
• Have a water well
• Have a shelter with household facilities for the keeper
• Some people see them as necessity while some see them as nuisance

The fate of secret temples, that we believe there are still many around in Singapore, remains unknown.  Their existence can be quite debatable according to the different likes of the residents around.  The Hindu temple in Clementi met their tragic fate of removal, mainly because it was located too near to HDB flats, we suppose.  And it risked of being subject to neighbor complaints on their activities or existence.  Strictly speaking by law, they may not be able to operate legally at least over the argument of land ownership.  Public areas do belong to the government.  Any building on state land would require a formal application and government approval.  On the other hand, those people who run those home-built temples may not be intentional lawbreakers.  They may be just plain civilians, usually in old ages, who would love to have a convenient place for their worship outside home.

However, the other group of arguments is that those home-built temple not only violated the law of land ownership, they endanger the community.  Because their worshipping group or society were not officially registered and governed by laws, some black sheep in the crowd can make use of the superstitions of the people for their own ambition, whatever that could possibly be.  In other words, they could possibly provide or be misused by others to provide potential grounds for cultivating or harboring con man and cult groups.  We are not generalizing that all the home-built shrines or temples are bad stuff.  Of course we do have sympathy, and understand the need for certain civilians, who are sentimentally attached to their worships that had been held in some particular site for most time of their lives.  They would feel very upset when their temples were demolished.

As a fact of life, it is not always easy to define black or white.  There are many factors and contradictions within.


A related news
 

1. Neighbors were stunned for he lives in the common area of HDB and keeping 27 deity statues 2. "I can let go all my furniture, except the deity statues" 1. A shabby shelter setup near the HDB staircase area; 2. "Robbers had intruded my home and stole my belongings" 3. Divorced for 8 years and sold his property A flimsy camp home On Friday 27 December 2002, reporters from Shin Minh Newspaper reported a weird life story.  Mr Lim, who was divorced and sold his HDB eight years ago, now live in a camp setup by himself in the common area of HDB in Ang Mo Kio.  He is now unemployed.  His camp was made of paper cardboards with very simple furniture that include an old fan, a radio and a TV donated by the neighbors.  He didn't seem to care about anything but his 27 deity statues.  This amazed the neighbours. When the reporter arrived, Mr Lim seemed to know what they were coming for and shouted even before being asked, "I will move out as soon as I find a suitable house". Under questioning by the reporters, Mr Lim confessed that he was planning to apply a HDB flat with his grandmother some time ago.  However, his grandmother fell sick and hospitalized, therefore his plan got postponed.  "Where can I find another partner for the application now to replace my grandma?  By law, HDB board needs two applicants." Mr Lim grumbled. However, Mr Lim said frankly, "Not everybody can tolerate my life-style".  He continued "Well, everybody has the right to live at his own way, right?".  Mr Lim lived here for 20 years as he inherited the HDB from his parents.  But his wife left him 8 years ago and sold the house too.  No water and electricity supply is available in Mr Lim's camp.  He now can take showers from those temporary shower and toilet facilities from the construction site next door.  This camp home has been robbed several times since his little shelter has no security at all.  So far the properties that he has lost over to thieves include, four handphones, a refrigerator, a washing machine, a gas stove and two small cupboards.  For safety reasons he seldom carries cash with him alone. Mr Lim understands well enough that this is not a long term solution for this kind of camp home.  He is confident that he will find a suitable place to move on soon. Mr Lim was a spiritual medium "I was a Teng-Kee (spiritual medium) who has the power to communicate with spirits.  And I have got 27 deity statues that I worship", said Mr Lim.  He then moved on to show the reporter the idols that are put at a corner of his camp home.  The idols filled up a kitchen shelf that has three compartments.  All the idol statues had been with Mr Lim for many years.  They were passed on to Mr Lim by his mother that Mr Lim swore he will never give them up.