HINDRAF

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

HINDRAF (Hindu Rights Action Force)
Led by	Lawyers: M. Manoharan P. Uthayakumar K.Ganghadaran P.Wathya Moorthy S. Ganapathi Rao
Active region(s)	Malaysia
Status	Runs de facto ideas from Tamil Eelam, proscribed as a spurring terrorist idealism in Malaysia

HINDRAF or Hindu Rights Action Force (Malay: Barisan Bertindak Hak-Hak Hindu; Tamil: (Hindu Urimaigal Poratta Kulu / Makkal Sakthi)) is a coalition of 30 Hindu Non-Governmental organizations committed to the preservation of Hindu community rights and heritage in a multiracial Malaysia. The group has led agitations against what they see as an "unofficial policy of temple demolition" and concerns about the steady encroachment of sharia-based law.^[1][2]

In late 2007, several prominent members of the HINDRAF were arrested, some on charges of sedition; following an enormous rally organised by HINDRAF in November, the charges were dismissed by the courts. Five people have since been detained without trial under the Internal Security Act.^[3]

Contents 1 Main Claims In Hindraf Memorandum 2 Events 2.1 Arrests in October 2007 2.2 Human Rights Forum 2.3 Arrests in November 2.4 Petition and rally 2.5 Threat from the government 3 Response to the Detentions 4 Online Petition 5 War of the Roses 6 See also 7 References 8 Notes

[edit] Main Claims In Hindraf Memorandum

1. Commonwealth ethnic Indian peace loving subjects in Malaysia persecuted by government backed Islamic extremist violent armed terrorist who launched a pre dawn violent armed attack and destroyed the kg Jawa Mariaman Hindu temple at 4.00 a.m this morning (15.11.2007).

2. Appeal for U.K to move emergency U.N resolution condemning ethnic cleansing in Malaysia.

3. Appeal to refer Malaysia to the world court and international criminal court for crimes against it’s own ethnic minority Indians. ^[4]

4. The conclusion of the petition : “We fear that the peace loving Indian community of Tamil origin having been pushed to the corner and the persecution getting worse by the day may be forced into terrorism in a matter of time as what has happened to the Sri Lankan Tamils”." - Hindraf treat to launch terrorist attack in Malaysia.^[5]

[edit] Events

[edit] Arrests in October 2007

On 30th October, four HINDRAF Group fellows and human rights , namely M. Manoharan, P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and S.Ganapathi Rao, K.Ulaganathan (their silent leader), were arrested and detained for taking part in the demonstration against the demolishing of a Hindu Shrine in Kuala Lumpur.^[6] However, they were acquitted due to a lack of evidence of incitement and sedition.

[edit] Human Rights Forum

A series of peaceful weekend forums were organized throughout Malaysia to increase the awareness of Hindu human rights by HINDRAF. A previous forum held near central Kuala Lumpur had been disrupted by the Royal Malaysian Police, according to HINDRAF .^[7] Subsequently, HINDRAF appealed directly to the Inspector General of the Malaysian Police in an attempt to ensure future forums went on peacefully.^[8]

[edit] Arrests in November

On 23 November 2007, three HINDRAF, P. Uthayakumar, Waytha Moorthy, and V.S. Ganapathi Rao, were arrested and charged under the Sedition Act.^[9][10] However, in a series of repeated arrests and releases, the courts could not prove that they had incited racial hatred. The only evidence against them were unreliable translations of their Tamil speeches into Bahasa Malaysia presented by the Attorney-General's Chambers, which the courts deemed as unverifiable. Eventually, they were all acquitted due to a shaky prosecution and the lack of evidence of any wrongdoing or crime.^[11].

[edit] Petition and rally

Main article: 2007 HINDRAF rally

On 30th August 2007, a class action on behalf of Malaysian Indians was filed at The Royal Courts of Justice in London to sue the UK Government for US$4 trillion (US$1 million for every Malaysian Indian) for bringing Indians as indentured laborers into Malaya, "exploiting them for 150 years" and thereafter failing to protect the minority Indians' rights in the Federal Constitution when independence was granted.^[12] As the group, which represents mainly working class Indo-Malaysians, could not afford the legal fees required, a petition was circulated with 100,000 signatures to be presented to Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom to appoint a Queen's counsel to argue the case^[12].

HINDRAF organized a rally on Sunday, 25th November 2007 to submit the petition at the British High Commission. Malaysian police refused to grant a permit for the rally, and set up roadblocks in Klang Valley along roads leading up to the rally to screen motorists entering the city center and identify potential troublemakers. They also advised the public not to participate in the rally, and arrested three leaders of HINDRAF.

The police roadblocks started the week before the rally to create massive traffic jams across the city and the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur[2]. The Malaysian Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang of the DAP pointed out that this high-handed act by the police was unnecessary as it caused major inconvenience to everyone[3].

On the morning of the rally, an estimated twenty thousand people gathered near the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, carrying life-size portraits of Queen Elizabeth and Mahatma Gandhi, to indicate the nonviolent nature of their protest.^[12] Five thousand members riot police dispatched to the scene used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the crowds. 136 people were arrested.^[12][13]

Al-Jazeera's coverage of the event [4] showed police officers using tear gas to disperse the protesters. A few hundred protesters and three police officers were injured [5].

The protest at the Batu Caves resulted in minor property damages [6], although the Hindu temple itself was not damaged[7].

HINDRAF later claimed to have faxed the petition to the British High Commission staff. However, as of 28 November, the British Envoy had not yet received any petition from the HINDRAF, though they did say they had received some unspecified information by fax.^[14]

[edit] Threat from the government

Malaysian prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned that the government will invoke the Internal Security Act against the demonstrators if they needed. The prime minister further criticised the demonstrators, after he made a promise that he will listen to everyone even if they have unpleasant words to say, the government of Abdullah also attempted to link terrorism with the peaceful Hindraf rally via the media. ^[15]

As of 11th December 2007, the HINDRAF leaders were all acquitted by the judicial courts due to lack of evidence and a flimsy prosecution case against their allegations. In order to contain the movement while not being able to charge them according to valid evidence-based legal processes, on 12th December 2007 Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi personally signed the detention letters to imprison the HINDRAF leaders under the draconian ISA for two years, in which their detention terms are subject to infinite renewal. The reason given for this unjustful arrest was that the HINDRAF leadership has had links with international terrorist organizations such as LTTE and also supposedly militant organizations in the mould of RSS in India, but this claims are nothing more than a flimsy curtain wash by the Government, to project a sense of control over the prevailing situation. The invocation of the ISA to capture the HINDRAF leaders was seen as a strategic move by the UMNO government to arrest the momentum generated by HINDRAF. The UMNO lead Government quickly diffused the rising tension within the fragile communal relations by intimidation, bribery and coercion, while maintaining a face of stability to the outside world. The ISA arrests are widely unpopular among the Malaysian Indian community and fuels the HINDRAF cause further.

The UMNO lead Government has threatened the Malaysian Indian community with sweeping arrests under the Emergency Act and ISA (similar to Operasi Lalang of the 1987, which targeted anti-BN elements in Malaysia, mostly of Malaysian Chinese extraction). This hardline approach is also softened by the MIC reconciliatory approach to blunt HINDRAF's thrust as the champion of the Malaysian Indian community.

[edit] Response to the Detentions

Even as the Prime Minister started threatening to use the ISA against the HINDRAF leaders for bringing Malaysia's racist policies out into the open for all to see, foreign news outlets criticized Badawi's lack of initiative to tackle the root cause of the problem[8][9].

The detention without trial of the HINDRAF leaders drew negative comments in the foreign press about Badawi's administration and the poor way that they are handling the issue[10][11].

The Democratic Action Party, DAP, has vowed to challenge the detention of the HINDRAF leaders[12][13]. Despite the arrests, the Opposition and most of the Malaysian NGOs were unfazed and continued to challenge UMNO's deconstruction of democracy in Malaysia. The United States had also voiced their disapproval of this latest round of ISA arrests[14].

The official HINDRAF website at http://www.policewatchmalaysia.com has been allowed by Malaysian ISPs again, after a brief ban. However this site is constantly plagued by faults and downtime. In response to the ban, sites such as http://www.hindraf.org were spawned to maintain awareness of this movement, in addition to the many blogs available. The movement started in Malaysia, has grown global and now has following in UK, Australia, Canada and USA.

There has also been candlelight vigils at Hindu temples throughout Malaysia to protest the detention of five leaders of the HINDRAF. This was condemned by Malaysian minister Samy Vellu. ^[16]

[edit] Online Petition

Shortly after the five HINDRAF lawyers were arrested under the ISA, an online petition was set up by Police Watch Malaysia.

[edit] War of the Roses

The Rose to the PM campaign was mooted to present a humanistic element in HINDRAF's campaign. The central focus of this campaign was the delivery of a rose, as a symbol of love and compassion, to the Malaysian Prime Minister at the Malaysian Parliament by Vwaishnavi Wathya Moorthy (aged 5). This symbolic act was to occur on the 16th February 2008, but the Malaysian Lower House was dissolved for the Federal Elections on the 13th February 2008.

In a dramatic show of force, the police fired teargas and targeted water cannon at several hundred ethnic Indians at the centre of Kuala Lumpur. ^[17] More than 200 people were detained by the authorities after being attacked by the police near the site of an Indian temple. ^[18][19]

[edit] See also

• P.Waytha Moorthy - Human Rights Lawyer and Chairperson of HINDRAF.
• Article 153 of the Constitution of Malaysia - Article 153 of the Constitution of Federal Malaysia.
• History of Malaysia - History of Malaysia before and after Independence.
• Hinduism in Malaysia - Status of Hinduism in Malaysia.
• Bumiputra - Bumiputera in Malaysia and its chronology.
• Reid Commission - An independent commission responsible for drafting the Constitution of the Federation Malaya.
• Law of Malaysia - Law of Malaysia.
• Malaysian Indian
• Tamil Malaysians
• Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - Terrorist which Hindraf see which what they will be.

[edit] References

[edit] Notes

• Jawan, Jayum A. (2003). Malaysian Politics & Government, p. 43. Karisma Publications. ISBN 983-195-037-2
• Amnesty International (2005). Amnesty International Report 2006: The State of the World’s Human Rights. Amnesty International. ISBN 0-86210-369-X.