Hindraf urges Commonwealth to suspend Malaysia
Tue, 17/06/2008 - 20:59 — admin
H S Rao in London June 10, 2008 12:06 IST
Hindraf, a Malaysian outfit spearheading a stir by ethnic-Indians, will press the Commonwealth to suspend Kuala Lumpur from the body for its discriminatory policies against the community.
"We will urge the 54-member Commonwealth to suspend Malaysia from its body," said Malaysia-born Waytha Moorthy, founder-chairman of the Hindu Rights Action Force.
Moorthy, a lawyer by profession, is currently seeking asylum in the United Kingdom after the Malaysian government revoked his passport following his return from Geneva on April 21.
"I was totally shocked when I was informed by the UK immigration officer at Gatwick Airport that the Malaysian government has revoked my passport, thus making me de facto stateless."
"The Malaysian government had intended that I be deported back to Malaysia by the British authorities so that I too could be arrested under the draconian Internal Security Act and be detained for an unspecified period of time without trial and be subjected to torture and inhumane treatment for my political beliefs," Moorthy said.
Five Hindraf members, including a newly elected lawmaker, have been in detention since December under ISA for leading unprecedented anti-government street protests in Kuala Lumpur. Their repeated pleas for freedom have been struck down by the Malaysian judiciary.
"I have not committed any offence or crime other than to champion the cause of the systematically marginalised, discriminated and alienated ethnic Indian community in Malaysia, who remained permanently colonised despite achieving independence 51 years ago."
Moorthy said he was distressed that the land where his forefathers 'toiled as indentured labourers' had decided to banish and exile him for speaking for his community.
He claimed that the Malaysian government had demolished an estimated 10,000 Hindu temples during the last 20 years in the name of development.
"We are not against development but we are against targeting the ethnic minorities and their places of worship in the name of development," the Hindraf leader said.
He said the Malaysian government had arrested the five members on the 'cooked up' charge that they were linked to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, though they had nothing to do with the Tamil Tigers.
Among those arrested and held under ISA is his elder brother P Uthayakumar, a leading Malaysian lawyer.
He said there were about 1.8 million to two million ethnic Indians including Christians, Muslims and Hindus in Malaysia, which has a population of 27 million.
Moorthy, who did his law from the UK, said, "The Malaysian government is opening a new chapter in the history of our democratic struggle by revoking my passport and arresting others connected with the movement."
He alleged that ethnic Indians in Malaysia were denied equal opportunities in education and other fields and their plantations were acquired by government.
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Comments
Wed, 18/06/2008 - 20:39 — macha96
What Out of commonwealth!!!
i just one question WHY???don't get me wrong. looking at hindraf there is 2 diffrent concept being used. one is trying to be loving caring society and another is trying to anger the goverment.i urge the hindraf take into account the credit crunch that is hitting all of us at the moment.sir i understand that ur trying to seek asylum in uk. then what happens? is it all over when the 5h are out !! u started a movement back home and it will get weaker when doubt sets in people.why don't ur pressure the indian goverment since we are all indians. i believe u have been in uk for sometime now and i believe u have seen the uk goverment is not in the best position at the moment. Looking back at tibet and china. the tibets really came out with mega stunt to get the worlds attention but its all over now.i am not demotivating ur attentions. but urge it to be a constructive and usefull one!!
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Mon, 23/06/2008 - 15:42 — alex
A Reply
Just wanted to comment on one thing you mentioned, macha96
"why don't ur pressure the indian goverment since we are all indians"
It is not as easy as it sounds. So far, we have not seen India move an inch to help the Malaysian Indians, or to put it correctly, Tamil Malaysians for the following reasons:
Malaysians of Indian origins are not subjects or citizens of India, but Malaysia
Helping Malaysians of Indian origins is not in India's interest
We're all Tamils!
India cannot even help its own citizens, being the Tamils of Tamil Nadu. Hundreds of Indian Tamil fishermen have been killed by the Sri Lankan navy, while scores have been arrested. Has India ever went to their aid? Then what makes us think that India will come to the aid of the Tamil Malaysians/ Malaysian Indians? Not to sound negative, but if all the Malaysian Indians were of North Indian origins (Gujurati, Punjabi, etc.), India would come rushing to help. Sadly, this is the truth. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of good people who are of North Indian origins, but this is basically New Delhi's mindset. Remember one thing, India will only help if it is in India's interest to help.
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Wed, 18/06/2008 - 18:15 — samy
Hindraf London urges Commonwealth to suspend Malaysia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CupmlXxLJ8
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