The destruction of Hindu temples by authorities in Malaysia is inflaming religious tensions in a country that was once been regarded as a model of religious and ethnic harmony.

Human rights groups and politicians say that anger is growing among the country's minority Hindu community as temples, many of historic value, are bulldozed at the rate of at least one every few weeks to make way for new developments.

Hindu groups have undertaken street protests and have appealed to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to halt the destruction and respect the rights of religious minorities in mainly-Muslim Malaysia. Concern is growing the situation will become volatile.

Malaysia is home to approximately two million Hindus. The country has thousands of Hindu temples and shrines, many built on private or plantation land by Indian migrant labourers before the country gained independence in 1957.

The land has since been acquired by local councils or state authorities, who argue the temples are illegal buildings and have been knocking them down.

Hindu groups say the nationwide destruction of temples has been going on for at least two decades, but that demolitions have accelerated lately. They claim that most of the demolitions are unnecessary for the new developments that the temples are supposed to pave way for, and have demanded that alternative sites be allocated for relocation of temples before any are removed.

It is further alleged that some local councils have been deliberately provocative by the manner in which they carry out the demolitions, using hammers to smash shrines and burying Hindu deities.

"At the moment, devotees are pleading and crying, but eventually they will not plead and cry any more," said Waytha Moorthy, the chairman of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which lobbys on behalf of affected temple groups.

"We are worried if people get emotional about it, they will resort to other means. They have come to us for help, but eventually we will also fail unless the government intervenes," he said.

S. Paranjothy, the deputy chief of the youth arm of the Gerakan party which is a member of Malaysia's ruling coalition, said he feared tensions over the demolitions would spill over into a repeat of previous communal violence.

The so-called 1978 Kerling incident saw Hindu devotees killing a group of five Muslims who were caught desecrating a temple.

"You are pushing people and some of them may be fearful, but others may not tolerate this," he said.

"If they carry on like this, there will be a repeat of this. The other time it was only five that died, but the next time 50 or 100 may die. You never know, anything can happen."

Malaysia is an Islamic nation that has Shariah (Islamic law) courts running parallel to civil courts. The country's 26 million people are roughly 55 percent Muslim Malay, with mostly Hindu Indians making up eight percent of the population and ethnic Chinese most of the remainder.

All citizens of Malaysia have the constitutional right to practice their faith, but minorities have complained in recent years that their rights are being increasingly eroded.

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