The Malaysian Government has banned the non-governmental Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), branding it as a threat to national security.
A sessions court in Kuala Lumpur charged Uthayakumar with posting a seditious letter on a web site. Uthayakumar has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
An ethnic Indian activist on Sunday launched a new multi-racial political party to champion the rights of marginalised sections, two months after his release from detention under Malaysia's draconian internal security law.
The Malaysian police on Saturday said it would take legal action against anyone attending a gathering sponsored by outlawed ethnic Indian group Hindu Rights Action Force, which has called a demonstration in Kuala Lumpur to seek withdrawal of a novel from school curriculum.
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 United Kingdom after the Malaysian government revoked his passport
Supporters of a Hindu rights group, which spearheaded mass protests demanding better treatment for ethnic Indians in Malaysia, are being investigated for allegedly misusing several hundred thousand dollars in donation funds, the police said.
Seeking protection from any police violence, a five-year-old ethnic-Indian girl has urged the Penang Chief Minister to accompany her to Malaysian Parliament when she visits it on Saturday to request Premier Abdullah Badawi to free the detained activists complaining of racial inequality.
Hindraf's A Sivanesan is among the 11 lawyers contesting for the opposition DAP. He will face Malaysian Indian Congress vice president SVeerasingam in Sundkai seat in Perak state. M Manoharan, who is currently held under the draconian Internal Security Act that allows indefinite detention without trial along with four other Hindraf members for organising the November 25 rally of ethnic Indians here, is also in the fray.
Fifty-one Malaysian-Indians, including a lawmaker, will stand trial in May for allegedly taking part in an illegal rally held by a Hindu rights group in 2007, even as 14 others pleaded guilty at a court.
The Malaysia-based Hindus Rights Force, struggling for rights and equality for ethnic Indian minorities in that country, has urged Persons of Indian Origin and Non-Resident Indians to extend support towards their cause. HINDRAF chairman P Waytha Moorthy told PTI that the PIOs should use their clout with India and appeal to the government to severe trade relations with that country, as well as stop all investments in that country.
Criticising Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohammad for his statement that Hindraf is made up ofTamil racists, the outfit that led protests by ethnic Indians against alleged marginalisation has said that the former premier was trying to divert attention from his wrongdoings. Hindu Rights Action Force president P Waythamoorthysaid that the remark made Mahathir sounds "like a broken record," Makkal Osai, a local daily, said.
A Malaysian court on Friday ordered that the passport of an ethnic Indian leader to be returned to him, in a sedition case where he wrote a letter to United Kingdom Premier Gordon Brown seeking his intervention to protect the rights of Hindus in the Muslim-majority country.
Uthayakumar's response came after several supporters urged him to stand against Samy Vellu, the president of the Malaysian Indian Congress, a component of the ruling Nasional Barisan party coalition.
The Malaysian police will seek help from international agencies like Interpol and Europol to monitor the overseas activities of the Hindu Right Action Force, which spearheaded protests by ethnic Indians against alleged marginalisation. Deputy Internal Security Minister Datuk Mohd Johari Baharom told reporters that the agencies involved were the European Law Enforcement Organisation, Asean police and Interpol.
Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders P Uthayakumar, V Ganabathirau, T Vasanthakumar and lawyers R Kenghadharan and M Manoharan were detained on December 13, 2007 on the grounds that they were posing a threat to national security.
Malaysia is facing tremendous pressure to release five members of the Hindu Rights Action Force, who were detained under the draconian Internal Security Act last November, for organising a massive rally against the government. Former Works Minister and Malaysian Indian Congress leader S Samy Vellu has joined opposition leader Lim Kit Siang in calling for the release of the five men, who were detained without trial for an indefinite period for being a national security threat.
Five ethnic Indian leaders, detained indefinitely under a draconian security law in Malaysia for organising a rally to demand racial equality, on Tuesday failed to get any reprieve from the high court, which turned down their application for freedom.
The application for M Manoharan, a lawyer belonging to the Hindu Rights Action Force, which is spearheading protests by ethnic Indians, was rejected by the Ipoh High Court judge on the grounds that the copy of the detention order had not been certified.
"The charge is in accordance with the law. All 31 individuals involved had written to me deploring Hindraf and claimed that they were not Hindraf members. They promised not to take part in any future illegal assembly," Attorney-General Gani Patail said.
Having "exhausted" all legal avenues and other channels against alleged marginalisation, Hindraf, spearheading the protests by ethnic Indians in Malaysia, has appealed to New Delhi to stop the "ethnic cleansing" in the Muslim-dominated nation.
The five ethnic indian activists arrested in malaysia will have to serve their full 2 year jail terms as the King rejected their appeals.
"I have given instructions that whatever grouses they (ethic Indians) have should be attended to. We take these matters seriously and I have even made time to listen to them," Abdullah said.
Although he refrained from taking names, the minister said an organisation from India was behind the protests that took place in Kuala Lumpur in November. He also said the protests were backed by opposition parties within Malaysia.
Malaysia-based Hindu Rights Action Force on Monday said the defeat of the pro-government Malaysian-Indian Congress showed that it was time for the Malaysian government to come out with a plan to address minorities. Talking to newspersons in Chennai, HINDRAF chairperson Wayda Moorthy said after the Malaysian polls, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi had said he would correct some of his mistakes like the crackdown on ethnic Indians.
The Malaysian deputy prime minister also said more was being done to increase the intake of ethnic Indians in the civil service.
The Malaysian authorities have allowed five ethnic Indian leaders, held under a draconian security law for spearheading protest against alleged marginalisation of the community, access to their families.
Abdullah labelled those who solicit support from outsiders as traitors and the action of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which claimed to fight for the rights of the Indian community in Malaysia, as an attempt to destroy the country and racial unity.
Malaysia's Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan said recent investigations have revealed that the campaign group, Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), "has been actively canvassing for support and assistance from terrorist groups".
Police said it detained at least 20 supporters of the non-governmental Hindu Rights Force (Hindraf), which organised the rally, days after announcing plans that its members would march to the Parliament house along with a group of children led by the organisation's chief Wayathamoorthy's five-year-old daughter Vvaishnnavi.Hindraf member and lawyer N Surendran, however, claimed that at least 60 people, including two leaders of the organisation, have been detained.
Five ethnic Indian activists, who were taken into custody for demanding better treatment for their community in Malaysia, have decided to go on a hunger strike in protest against their indefinite detention under a draconian security law.
A Malaysian court has allowed a joint trial for 54 ethnic Indians who took part in an "illegal" assembly organised by a non-governmental Hindu group in November last year to protest against the alleged marginalisation of the community.
Malaysian Indian Congress president S Samy Vellu assured that the government was taking steps to improve the lot of the Indians in the country.
HINDRAF President P Wytha Moorthy speaks about how Malaysian citizens of Indian origin are treated in Muslim-dominated Malaysia, and recounts the incidents: Temples trashed, married women forced to get Islamised, Hindus buried as Muslims, and doors closed for employment and business opportunities.
Outraged over a local Hindu group's allegations of mistreatment of ethnic Indians by authorities, Malaysian Premier Abdullah Badawi has described the claims as lies intended to divide the races in this country and offered to step down if proved wrong.
The Malaysian police on Thursday arrested the leader of a Hindu rights group, which had organised the largest-ever mass demonstration by ethnic Indians in Kuala Lumpur last week, to protest their alleged marginalisation in the country. V Ganapathy Rao, a member of the Hindu Rights Action Force was picked up by the police from his office. Indians form eight per cent of Malaysia's population of 27 million. They allege discrimination by an affirmative action policy.
The three charged for sedition were part of an NGO rights group, the organisation Hindu Rights Action Force or Hindraf. Hindraf is in the forefront of a fight for the rights of Indian Malaysians who feel they have been marginalised since Malaysia gained independence from Britain in 1957.
With two ministers and four deputy ministers, the minority community will have better representation in the government to look into the well-being of Malaysian Indians, the New Straits Times said on Thursday.
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