Hindu God Not Allowed to Use a Cellphone

Malaysia's Home Ministry has warned retailers selling imported statues of the Hindu god Ganesh talking on a mobile phone to remove the statues from sale immediately. "Those selling them will be warned, while those caught a second time will be slapped with a summons," Home Ministry spokesman Mohamad Shah Ismail was quoted by The Sun as saying.

The recent appearance of the elephant-headed Hindi deity Ganesh using a mobile phone had caused outrage amongst Hindus.

"The altered statues are offensive and give a distorted depiction of Lord Ganesha," chairman of the Malaysia Hindu Sangam Penang state council P Murugiah said.

"On behalf of the local Hindu community, we demand that the importers and distributors of the statues stop selling the degrading statues," he was quoted as saying.

A raid by Home Ministry officials over the weekend in Penang's Little India failed to find any statues of Ganesh holding a cellphone. The Home Ministry's northern zone chief, Mohd Shah Ismail told local reporters that the negative publicity over the statues had resulted in their rapid removal by retailers."

Posted to the site on 1st October 2003