Land disputes over unregistered Hindu religious sites have long fuelled racial tensions in Muslim-majority Malaysia, with the latest example involving unfounded claims that a public hospital in northern Penang state would be relocated to avoid "disturbing" a nearby temple. The now-deleted post cites a Malaysian minister, whose aide has lodged a police report against the social media user who made the false claim. The hospital's visitor's board said it proposed an expansion, not a relocation.

"Bukit Mertajam Hospital will be relocated to avoid disturbing the temple - Steven Sim Chee Keong," reads a Facebook post shared on March 22, 2026.

Sim is a member of parliament representing the Bukit Mertajam district of northern Penang state and also Entrepreneur Development and Cooperatives Minister.

The post includes an image of Sim at the hospital speaking with nurses, supposedly dated March 22.

Around 70 percent of Malaysia's 2,251 Hindu temples serving the country's minority Indian community are unregistered, which often become embroiled in land disputes and face demolition (archived link).

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said in February that the government would act against unauthorised houses of worship, particularly those on illegal land, but warned against vigilantism (archived link).

Soon after, four individuals were arrested for trespassing and demolishing a temple built without proper approval from the authorities, but were later released (archived link).

Among them is controversial activist Tamim Dahri Abdul Razak, who is currently being sought by police and has said he will return to Malaysia only if his demand for four temples to be demolished is met (archived link).

However, the Bukit Mertajam Hospital is not being relocated and the circulating claim is baseless.

Expansion, not relocation

Keyword searches on Google found multiple news outlets reported that the minister’s special officer Lim Zheng Han had filed a police report against a Facebook account called "Hamly Hadi", which first made the claim (archived link).

Lim said he had filed a report "on the dissemination of statements containing racial and religious incitement on social media, which contain untrue allegations regarding the hospital", adding that the statement is untrue, misleading and malicious.

He said there was no proposal to relocate the hospital but instead plans for a new building at the existing site to accommodate increasing patients.

Further keyword searches also found that the Bukit Mertajam Hospital visitors' board had filed a police report and denied social media claims that the hospital would be relocated to avoid disturbing a temple (archived link).

Another one of Sim's aides shared a statement by the board on Facebook on March 23, 2026 which said the false claims were "ill-intentioned" and an attempt at blocking the hospital's expansion effort (archived link).

"We urge the authorities to investigate the owner of the Facebook account and take firm action under laws related to defamation, incitement, and the spread of false information," it said.

A subsequent reverse image search for the image of Sim at the hospital shared in the circulating post led to a Facebook post by the Penang State Health Department on September 17, 2025.

According to the post, Sim visited the hospital on September 14, 2025 to inaugurate its new facilities for people with disabilities and zero-waste toilets (archived link). There is no mention of relocating the hospital.

Sim did not respond to AFP's request for comment at the time of publication.