The leader of the ethnic Indian community in Malaysia on Thursday urged New Delhi to take up with Kuala Lumpur the issue of alleged mistreatment of People of Indian Origin in that country.

"India can do much more and it should realise that it is an economic giant. New Delhi can influence Malaysia as the latter cannot ignore the country's business potential," said Waytha Moorthy, leader of the Hindu Rights Action Force which is spearheading the agitation in Malaysia.

He suggested that India could impose some kind of trade sanction against Malaysia to pressurise it to provide ethnic Indians their rights.

"We know they (Malaysian authorities) will come hard at us. They are trying to kill the struggle of Indians by charging us and denying us our genuine rights. We need support and India can do much more," Moorthy said.

"A fear has been instilled successfully for the last 50 years and we expect more from the Indian side," he added.

Ethnic Indians in Malaysia have alleged discrimination at the hands of the government there and a recent protest by the community was met with force.

Some political parties in India have been demanding that the matter be taken up with the Malaysian authorities but the Government feels it cannot take it too far as it is Malaysia's internal matter.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] had last week guardedly voiced concern over the developments in Malaysia, saying "the Government is worried whenever any person of Indian Origin is in trouble anywhere in the world".