Five ethnic Indian leaders, detained by the Malaysian government under a draconian security law, on Monday began a hunger strike to protest their incarceration and the alleged marginalisation of the community in the multi-racial country.
The five men are leaders of the non-governmental Hindu Rights Action Front, which had organised a massive rally in Kuala Lumpur on November 25 to voice to raise grievances of ethnic Indians over alleged discrimination in the Muslim-majority country.
The government has denied the allegations. Several supporters of the five leaders held under the tough Internal Security Act that allows indefinite detention without trial, also joined the hunger strike at two different temples, a lawyer of one of the detainees said.
The supporters said while the five -- P Uthayakumar, V Ganabathirau, T Vasanthakumar, R Kenghadharan and M Manoharan -- would go on hunger strike inside the detention centre, they would do it outside for five days, one for each of the detained.
About 20,000 Indians took part in the November 25 rally. On Sunday, another 20,000 ethnic Indians assembled in Kuala Lumpur but this time to support Premier Abdullah Badawi who, addressing the rally, promised to wipe out poverty among all races and urged for their support.
The rally was organised by the Malaysian Indian Congress, a component of the ruling Barisan Party.
The five Indian leaders say that their detention is illegal and claim that the government took them into custody for politically motivated reasons.
The activists are accused of threatening public security and inciting racial hatred in this multi-racial nation.
Malaysia's population of 27 million people comprises majority Malays who are mainly Muslims, 25 per cent ethnic Chinese who are Buddhists and Christians and 7.8 per cent Indians who are mostly Hindus from Tamil Nadu.
The Indians were brought here by the British almost 200 years ago as indentured labourers to work in plantations.
While some of them left when India attained Independence in 1947, many opted to stay back and settled here.
