Ipoh High Court suggests cement company, cave temple settle eviction out of court

IPOH: The Ipoh High Court has suggested for a cement company trying to evict the occupants of the Dhamma Sakyamuni Caves Monastery in Gunung Kanthan, near Chemor, to settle the matter out of court.

Judicial commissioner Bhupindar Singh Gurcharan Singh Preet had in chambers suggested for both parties to settle the case amicably without going through a full trial.

Representatives from the cement company, the monastery and their respective lawyers were present in chambers.

When met outside the courtroom on Wednesday (Nov 10), monastery spokesman Leong Cheok Keng said they were still very far away from any settlement.

"The monastery does not want money and only wants their lives to carry on as usual," he said, adding that the monastery was represented by lawyer Lee Jia Mian.

The century-old temple and cave monastery is facing the possibility of eviction for quarrying activities.

The cement company had filed an Order 89 application to evict the monks by claiming that they are unlawful and unknown squatters.

Leong, who is also Malim Nawar assemblyman, said the monastery and six monks are also seeking to intervene to be part of the case during the case management.