On Jan 9, a 45-second video showing a large crowd of devotees flouting SOPs in the temple area went viral, resulting in an investigation by the Gombak police. The temple management was subsequently issued a RM1,000 fine under Section 16 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988.

Following this, temple committee chairman R Nadarajah posted a video announcing the committee’s decision to ban kavadi carrying until Jan 16.

“We’ve said it many times that we want to comply with the rules and regulations in place and yet devotees are not listening to us. Because of this, we have decided to ban kavadis from entering the temple until Jan 16 to prevent further problems,” he said in the video posted on Facebook today.

“We don’t want to give the wrong impression to the public that we carry kavadis and celebrate Thaipusam without adhering to the SOPs implemented by the government.”

Temple trustee N Sivakumar said the committee made this decision because it had yet to receive the full SOPs from the National Security Council (MKN).

“Among the SOPs proposed by MKN was to only allow kavadi-carrying from Jan 16 to 19 and paal kudam (milk pots) carrying from Jan 14 to 19.

“Additionally, as proposed by the national unity ministry and the temple management a few months back, we have decided to allow only 10 people to accompany each kavadi going into the temple,” he told FMT.

Sivakumar also said devotees would have to register with the temple management if they intended to carry the kavadi or paal kudam so that the SOPs could be implemented properly and to prevent any similar problem from happening again.

“However, if individuals wish to carry paal kudam before Jan 14, they may do so as long as they adhere to the SOPs, including physical distancing, implemented by MKN.”