Comments: PM denied Indians to hold peaceful street demonstration.

COMMENTS

At least 5,000 ethnic Indian men gathered outside Kuala Lumpur's famous Petronas Towers, carrying Malaysian flags and placards today ( 25-11-2007) despite the warning from the Police of illegal gathering.

The PM Ahmad Badawi has made a grave mistake to deny the Indians for a peaceful street demonstration. With the General Election just around the corner, the trial of his ability to represent all races had failed the test. Those Indians who voted the PM to powers have distrust them that they were able to hold a peaceful demonstration.

The police permit was denied, water cannons and tear gases were used to disperse the crowd. The PM should have returned the favor of the Indians voters who voted for him to power so as to represent the Indians community apart from the Chinese and Malays. The voters had trusted him as capable PM but he had distrusted the Indians of their assurance of peaceful demonstration. Why?

I perceived that the PM will be losing the votes from the Indians community. It is another blow to his capability as PM following the last 2 street demonstrations organised by Malaysian Bar Council on September 26, 2007 and followed by BERSIH on November 10, 2007.

 

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The Star Online. Sunday November 25, 2007

PM: We have to take action if people commit offences

DEVID RAJAH IN KAMPALA 

KAMPALA (Uganda): Do not take the police action against three activists of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) as a racial issue, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned. 

"It has nothing to do with race. People should stop linking or viewing everything that happens in the country as a racial matter," the Prime Minister said.  

He added that people should not be too quick to make unfounded claims, saying that those who commit offences would have to face charges. 

On Friday, police arrested lawyers P. Waythamoorthy, who is Hindraf chief, his brother P. Uthayakumar and V. S. Ganapathi Rao for allegedly uttering seditious words in speeches made at a gathering in Batang Berjuntai, Selangor, on Nov 16. 

They were charged at a Sessions Court in Klang. All three claimed trial. 

The police had also rejected an application by Hindraf to gather outside the British High Commission today to hand over a petition over a class action suit against the British government for bringing Indians to pre-independence Malaya as labourers and exploiting them. 

At least 25 Indian-based groups have dissociated themselves from the gathering and had called on the organisers to cancel their march. 

Abdullah, who is Internal Security Minister, said the police had evidence to charge Waythamoorthy and the other two for making seditious statements and speeches. 

The police had been monitoring the activities of the three men and their group for a while now, he told Malaysian journalists at the end of the first day of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting here on Friday. 

"We have to take action if these people have clearly committed offences," said Abdullah, adding that the arrests and charging of the three Hindraf organisers were not related to the group's planned protest in Kuala Lumpur.  

Responding to a question, he asked: "What can we do if people want to take to the streets to protest instead of using the proper channels?" 

"If they have committed an offence, then they are wrong.  

"We are not out to victimise anyone. If someone is wrong, then the person must be charged and brought to justice," Abdullah said.  

He said that if people were allowed to openly commit offences, others who were law-abiding citizens would become angry and upset with the authorities.  

 

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The Star Online. Sunday November 25, 2007

Hindraf: Just give us an hour to hand petition

KUALA LUMPUR: The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) will go ahead with its gathering today and has asked to be given "one hour maximum" to hand over its petition to the British High Commission. 

A. Sivanesan, one of the lawyers representing the three Hindraf members who were charged with sedition at the Klang Sessions Court on Friday, said the gathering would go ahead as planned. 

He noted that on Friday, a huge crowd had gathered in Klang outside the court and made its way to the Sri Rajeshwari temple a kilometre away and "not a single flower pot was damaged." 

"The Government need not fear. It is an orderly crowd," he said of today's planned gathering. 

"It is away from the city and 60% of the shops in that area are closed on Sunday. We are not going to be a nuisance to the people," he added.  

Sivanesan believes the police had overreacted by having roadblocks all over the city. 

"The duty of the police should be to control the traffic – nothing more than that. 

"Just give us a chance. It will be an hour maximum. We will hand over the petition to the British High Commission, speak to the crowd, and then we will go back," he said. 

Meanwhile, the five lawyers who were served a restraining order on Friday morning barring them from organising or participating in the rally have asked for an immediate hearing to appeal against it. 

The five – P. Waythamoorthy, P. Uthayakumar, V. S. Ganapathi Rao, R. Kenghadran and M. Manoharan – faxed 10 copies of their notice to the Kuala Lumpur High Court. 

Waythamoorthy, Uthayakumar and Ganapathi Rao were charged with sedition later that day. 

The law firm, which applied for the notice of appeal, said the five were dissatisfied with the magistrate's court decision to issue the court order against them. 

They asked the court for immediate decision in view of the fact that the planned gathering was today. The courts are closed on weekends.  

 

 

Demonstrators demand equal rights
Posted by Chinese and Indians not treated as Malaysians on November 25, 2007 at 12:39:52:

Hindus, police clash in Malaysia

* Story Highlights
* Public transportation into the city was halted
* Protests follow largest demonstration in nearly a decade
* Demonstrators demand equal rights

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- More than 5,000 Hindu protesters met water cannons and tear gas in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, on Sunday while demanding equal rights and consideration from the government.

Ethnic Indian protesters are sprayed with water by Malaysian riot police in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday.

Despite clashes with police, there were no reports of injuries during the planned protest. Some protesters threw rocks at the water cannon trucks, but others were urging peaceful demonstrations.

Public transportation into the city was stopped, hindering protesters from coming in.

Police stopped protesters as they tried to take a petition to the British High Commission. Talks were under way for authorities to allow six protesters to deliver the petition, should the crowd disperse.

Earlier this month, riot police used water hoses and tear gas against thousands of protesters demanding electoral reform, the largest demonstration in Kuala Lumpur in nearly a decade.

 

 

The gov't rejected claims of unfair discrimination
Posted by Chinese and Indians are marginalised in Malaysia ! on November 25, 2007 at 12:45:07:

Malaysian police break up rally

Malaysian riot police used tear gas on the protesters
Malaysian police have clashed with ethnic Indian protesters in Kuala Lumpur, the country's capital.

Tear gas and water cannon were used to disperse a crowd of over 5,000 people as they rallied outside the British High Commission.

The protesters are calling for reparations from the UK for sending Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers a century ago.

The activists also demand measures to improve the living standards of Hindus.

At least 5,000 ethnic Indian men gathered outside Kuala Lumpur 's famous Petronas Towers , carrying Malaysian flags and placards.

Some demonstrators were beaten and bundled into police vans, as tear gas and water cannon were fired into the crowd, according to the Associated Press news agency.

Unfair treatment

Organisers had pledged that the demonstration would be peaceful, but Malaysian authorities nevertheless banned it, fearing that it could inflame racial tensions.

Indians are treated like third-class citizens
M. Kulasegaran, Opposition politician

In pictures: Malaysia rally

The ostensible aim of the rally was to call on the British government to pay $4 trillion (£2 trillion) in compensation to the two million ethnic Indians in Malaysia whose ancestors were taken to the country as indentured labourers in the 19th century.

But the BBC's Robin Brant in Kuala Lumpur says the real goal of the demonstrators is to highlight what they see as the unfair treatment of minority Indians in Malaysia.

Ethnic Indians - mainly Hindus - form one of Malaysia 's largest minority groups.

Activists say that many Hindus live in poverty, partly because of policies granting jobs and economic advantages to the ethnic Malay Muslim majority.

"Indians are treated like third-class citizens. The community has been suffering in silence for decades," said opposition politician M. Kulasegaran.

The government has rejected claims of unfair discrimination.

In advance of the rally, three leading members of the group behind the protest - the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) - were arrested.

The three men were later charged with making seditious comments - and could face up to three years in jail if convicted.