Today, that sacred space faces extinction. Not by natural disaster, not by neglect, but by the cold machinery of a cement company and the silent acquiescence of a legal system that recognizes registered land titles but not the beating heart of heritage.

This is not merely a property dispute. It is a moral crisis wrapped in legal technicalities. And it demands the attention of every Buddhist, every Malaysian, and every person who believes that some things are worth more than the limestone beneath them.

The Chronology of an Eviction Foretold

The story of how a century-old monastery came to face bulldozers is a tale of shifting corporate hands, legal maneuverings, and a silence that speaks volumes about our collective priorities.

Early 20th Century: Great Master Lao Shi Fu, a Thai Thudong monk, has a vision during deep meditation. He founds the Dhamma Sakyamuni Caves Monastery at Gunung Kanthan as a sanctuary for rest and spiritual practice. The monastery grows, attracting monks from across the region.

Over the Decades: The monastery coexists peacefully alongside quarry operations. Previous companies work around the site. There are no eviction notices. There is no conflict. The monks meditate; the quarries extract. An unspoken understanding prevails.

Around 2000: As devotees grow, the monastery constructs a grand golden Buddha statue, five tonnes, three metres tall, in a unique meditative posture. It is a testament to the community's devotion and the monastery's enduring role as a spiritual beacon.

2013-2014: The Forest Research Institute Malaysia (FRIM) conducts a botanical survey that reveals an extraordinary truth: Gunung Kanthan is not just a spiritual sanctuary but an ecological treasure. The study records 223 plant species, including critically endangered endemic species found nowhere else on Earth. The Malaysian Nature Society had already ranked the hill among the top four most important limestone hills in the Kinta Valley.

2019: Associated Pan Malaysia Cement (APMC), linked to YTL Corporation, takes over quarry operations at Gunung Kanthan. A new era begins, one with no reverence for the old ways. The company's own biodiversity study, kept from peer review, claims no "sensitive biodiversity" exists. FRIM's findings say otherwise. The company proceeds regardless.

2020: The eviction notice arrives. After a century of peaceful occupation, the monks are told they are squatters. The spiritual sanctuary becomes a legal liability.

January 2022: APMC seeks a High Court order in Ipoh to evict the monastery, claiming registered ownership of the 146.4-hectare land plot. The monastery's management contests, arguing that the monks have resided there for over a century and that the company suppressed material evidence of their occupation. The High Court initially rules in the monastery's favor.

2023: APMC appeals. The Court of Appeal reverses the judgment, ruling in favor of the cement company. The monastery applies for a stay of execution. It is rejected. The legal ground shifts irrevocably.

February 2024: The Federal Court dismisses the monastery's application for leave to appeal. The civil court system has spoken: registered ownership trumps historical occupation.

August 2026: With legal avenues exhausted, the monastery turns to the government and human rights bodies. Monks, accompanied by Lawyers for Liberty (LFL), hold a press conference appealing directly to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the MP for Tambun, where the monastery is located. They submit a memorandum to Suhakam, the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, arguing that the eviction threatens their constitutional right to religious freedom and the preservation of national heritage.

September 2, 2026: In a separate legal action, the monastery's lawsuit against APMC is struck out with costs. An appeal and stay application are pending.

The Legal Arguments: Ownership vs. Heritage

The case is a textbook collision between two legal universes. On one side stands APMC, armed with the Torrens system of land registration, a system that grants absolute title to the registered proprietor. The company holds a lease, the courts have ruled, and therefore it is entitled to possession. The monastery, in the eyes of the law, are squatters.

But this framing ignores the deeper truths. The monastery's management argued that APMC suppressed material evidence, that the company failed to disclose the century-old occupation to the court. They argued that they are not squatters but custodians, predating the current land laws, predating Malaysia itself. And they argued that a National Geopark, a site of global Buddhist heritage, should not be destroyed for cement.

The Court of Appeal disagreed. The Federal Court refused to hear the case. The law, it seems, has no room for nuance.

The Environmental Truth We Cannot Ignore

Even if we set aside the spiritual significance, and we should not, the environmental case for preservation is overwhelming.

FRIM's study found that the southern part of Gunung Kanthan, where the monastery sits, is home to 223 plant species. Two of these, Gymnostachyum kanthanense and Vatica kanthanensis, are hyper-endemic and critically endangered. They exist on this hill and nowhere else. The Kanthan Trapdoor Spider, also critically endangered, makes its last stand here.

Lafarge's own commissioned study claimed no sensitive biodiversity existed. But when FRIM researchers sought to peer-review that study, they found the data had never been released. The company's claims, in other words, were unverifiable. FRIM's were peer-reviewed and published.

This is not a debate between equal scientific claims. It is a debate between transparency and obfuscation.

What Is at Stake

Let us be clear about what is being destroyed.

For Buddhists: A century-old monastery, a place of meditation and prayer, a site of global significance. The unique golden Buddha, with its unprecedented posture, is a treasure not just for Malaysia but for the Buddhist world.

For Malaysians: A National Geopark, a site of exceptional biodiversity, a natural heritage that belongs to all Malaysians, not just to a cement company. For the World: One of the last 12 remaining limestone hills in the Kinta Valley. Once gone, it is gone forever. No amount of cement can rebuild a 450 million-year-old hill.

For Future Generations: A question. What did you do when they came for the monastery? Did you speak, or did you stay silent?

A Call to Action

We call upon Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to intervene. As the MP for Tambun, he has a unique responsibility. As a leader who has spoken of moral courage and compassion, he has a unique opportunity. The monastery does not ask for much. It asks for its home.



We call upon Suhakam to recognize that this is not merely a land dispute but a human rights issue. The right to religious freedom is enshrined in Malaysia's constitution. What does that right mean if a century-old monastery can be bulldozed for profit?

We call upon APMC and YTL Corporation to reconsider. You are not merely a cement company. You are a Malaysian institution. Your legacy should not be the destruction of a sacred site. History will judge you not by your quarterly profits but by what you chose to preserve.

We call upon all Buddhists, in Malaysia and around the world, to raise your voices. Write to your representatives. Share this story. Sign the petitions. Let the world know that Gunung Kanthan matters.

And we call upon the monks, who have meditated here for a century, who have walked the ancient path of wisdom, who have been the silent guardians of this sacred hill. You are not alone. Your voice matters. Your presence matters. Your fight is our fight.

The Path Forward

The legal battle may be lost, but the moral battle is not. History is filled with moments when the law lagged behind justice, when slaves were property, when women could not vote, when indigenous lands were stolen. In each case, the law was wrong. In each case, it was changed.

We do not ask for the law to be broken. We ask for it to be re-examined, not just through the lens of land titles, but through the lens of heritage, human rights, and environmental protection. We ask for a stay of execution, not as a legal technicality, but as a pause for reflection.

The Buddha taught that all things are impermanent. But impermanence is not an excuse for destruction. It is a reminder that we must act with compassion while we can.

The golden Buddha sits in stillness, palms on knees, in the perfect meditative stage. It does not speak. It does not fight. It simply is.

But we can speak. We can fight. And we can demand that this sacred site be preserved.

The time to act is now. Before the limestone is blasted. Before the caves are sealed. Before the golden Buddha is silenced forever.

May all beings be free from suffering. May this monastery be free from harm. May wisdom prevail.

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For more information and to support the campaign, visit saveourmonastery.com.

Note: Kooi F. Lim is Managing Editor of The Buddhist Channel. To support the Buddhist Channel's independent Dharma reporting, please consider making a donation.