Although a law allowing cremation was passed in Malta in May 2019, a functioning crematorium is still nowhere in sight, the Hindu community said on Tuesday.
In a statement, Rajan Zed, the president of the Universal Society of Hinduism urged authorities to speed up the process “so that Hindus could send-off their loved ones with proper rituals-traditions-customs.”
Warning that if the issue is not urgently addressed he will raise the case with the Commissioner of Human Rights of Council of Europe, Zed said that according to estimates Malta will only have a functioning crematorium in three of four years time.
While pointing out that the law is reportedly still to be signed by the President to be enacted, Zed said that the situation was forcing the Hindu community “to bury their loved ones in contradiction of their long-held beliefs that burial hindered soul’s journey.”
Earlier this year, the Planning Authority published a policy and design guidance document for consultation which stipulated that cremation facilities outside existing cemeteries must by located outside the development zone and be low buildings well connected to the roads network.
Urging the Maltese government to subsidise cremations abroad till proper crematorium is built and available for usage in Malta, Zed said basic cost for cremation abroad starts from €4,400, but added options can raise the cost.
“Many non-Hindus in Malta now reportedly also prefer cremation over burial. Pet cremation, however, is reportedly available in Malta,” Zed said.
He added that if government was presently unable to offer subsidy for cremations abroad, then in the meantime, Hindus should be allowed to cremate their deceased on traditional open pyres in Malta.
For this purpose, government should allocate a cremation ground near a body of water where Hindus could cremate their deceased on open pyres, Zed said.
“Malta should show some maturity and be more responsive to the hurt feelings of its hard-working, harmonious and peaceful Hindu community; which had been in the country since the 1800s and had made a lot of contributions to the nation and society; and continued to do so.”
Zed pointed out that cremation is a millennial tradition prescribed in ancient Hindu texts and said “it was simply heartbreaking for the community to perform something in clear violation of their faith. Being able to follow one’s faith traditions was a fundamental human right.”
Insisting that Malta should follow its own constitution, which states: “All persons in Malta shall have full freedom of conscience and enjoy the free exercise of their respective mode of religious worship,” Zed said Malta “should seriously examine this issue of religious freedom, fairness and equality.”
Calling on health minister Chris Fearne and environment minister Miriam Dalli to speed-up the crematorium process, Zed also urged Archbishop Charles Scicluna and Cardinal Mario Grech to support the cause.
In 2021, Active Group Ltd proposed a crematorium on a 7,600 square metre plot of agricultural land, to the south of the Addolorata cemetery, a site considered as ODZ and designated as an area of high landscape value and a strategic open gap between urban areas.
But the Paola local council had objected to the development, describing it “premature” due to the absence of regulations and standards for a crematorium.
In 2010, Luqa Developments – owned by former Lorry Sant aide Piju Camilleri – had proposed a cremation facility at a new cemetery in Tal-Rmiedi, on derelict agricultural land between Attard and Rabat. The 2015 policy banned ODZ cemeteries and the proposal was dropped; a bid to have the same land turned into a petrol station, was unsuccessful.
