The defilers, the Penang Deputy Chief Minister II claimed, knew that the public would not care less about such crimes, just like the management of a majority of temples did not care much about security.

Ramasamy also lamented the “lack of swift action” by police, which had contributed to the increase in the number of desecration cases.

He said most of the affected temples were isolated, which left such sites vulnerable to attacks.

“Some desecration might give the appearance of hate crime whereas the others could be the result of robberies.

“But we are not in any position to determine the actual cause or causes unless and until the police complete their investigations.

“Although the police in Penang have set up a task force to expedite investigations into Hindu temple desecrations, the public is concerned about the (slow) pace (of investigations) on the part of the police,” Ramasamy said in a statement today.

In under two months, five temples in Penang and three temples in Kedah have been desecrated, in what Ramasamy described as both “historic” and unacceptable events.

“So why are so many temples broken into within a short period? Are they targets of robbery or were they attacked due to the rising racial and religious polarisation in the country?

“Are these attacks (Islamic State) IS-inspired ones or are they the result of infighting among the various temple committees? Or are they the chaos emanating from robberies?

“Alternatively are the temple attacks made to look like hate crimes or robberies to make the temples move to alternative sites?”

Yesterday, police said they had arrested a man suspected of having defiled a Hindu temple in Paya Terubong, near Air Itam.

Penang Police Chief Comm Abdul Ghafar Rajab said the 45-year-old suspect was also behind the desecration of another Hindu temple near the Tunku Kudin underpass recently, as the man had admitted to being responsible for both incidents.