KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 3 — Islamist group Ikatan Muslimin Malaysia (Isma) has joined in the call to preserve historical ruins in Lembah Bujang in Kedah today, calling it proof that the Malay civilisation has had a long hold over the region.

Muhammad Fauzi Asmuni, one of the group’s vice-presidents, also insisted that the ruins were part of Malay legacy rather than Hindu, despite them formerly being candi, or places of worship with elements of either Hinduism or Buddhism.

“It is proof of the Malay people’s trading civilisation and its importance as a trading route to other areas in the Malay lands,” Fauzi said here, as quoted by Isma’s website.

“Therefore, it is the responsibility of Muslim Malays to preserve the site as the area of Malay historical research.”

Fauzi also insisted that despite the candi having Hindu elements, they were linked to “Hindu Malays” rather than Hindu as it is practised among Indians in the South Asian subcontinent.

He also claimed that the influence of Hindu among ancient Malays had not been as strong compared to the subcontinent, and the religious philosophy of Hindu had failed to penetrate Malay civilisation.

Calling for studies into the historical ruins to continue, Fauzi suggested that archaeologists are bound to find Islamic artifacts among the ruins since Islam had allegedly arrived in ancient Kedah, during the same time as other ancient civilisations in the region such as Langkasuka.

On Sunday, The Malay Mail Online reported the destruction of candi number 11 based on a site visit by Penang Deputy Chief Minister II Prof Dr P. Ramasamy.

Candi number 11, located at Sungai Batu within Lembah Bujang, is one of the 10 reconstructed temple ruins that dated back to the 8^th century, before Islamisation came to Malaya.

The rich archaeological sites in Lembah Bujang were first discovered by British colonists back in the 1840s and efforts to reconstruct parts of it were commissioned back in 1974.

Since then, researchers and archaeologists have found more candi located all over the Lembah Bujang and a recent study by Universiti Sains Malaysia revealed that there are 127 archaeological sites in Kedah with over 90 candi in Lembah Bujang.

Lembah Bujang is believed to be the foundation for the rise of the Malay kingdom in Southeast Asia, and the region’s foremost entreport and trading centre in ancient times.

In supporting the continuation of Malays’ special rights, Isma had in its seminar and events suggested that the Malays had always been the original settlers of Malaysia, describing the native indigenous as sharing the same ethnic roots with the Malays.

Isma had suggested for syariah to be the law of the land replacing the country’s existing dual-track legal system in October, alleging that Malaysia has practised Islamic laws even since the times of the Malacca empire.

In September, Isma had organised a symposium where a historian who was one of the speakers suggested that the influx of the Chinese into the Malay archipelago, including Malaysia, had been part of a “southbound invasion” from China towards Southeast Asia called “Nam Tien”.

This “invasion”, backed by foreign Western powers at times, has since stripped the ancient Malay peoples of their riches and knowledge, causing their descendants to be inferior to other races despite being ostensibly one of the oldest civilisations in the world.

A RM10 million budget to renovate a Hindu temple in Klang, Selangor had also drawn the ire of Isma in October, claiming the project promotes “infidel religions” and jeopardises Malaysia’s position as an “Islamic country”.

Isma said the Sri Sundaraja Perumal temple renovation, if allowed to proceed, would lower Malaysia’s image as a modern “Islamic country” in the eyes of Muslim tourists—especially those from the Middle East.