Hindraf call to PM to revoke illegal order by Home Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 16 — Banning Hindraf will not banish the groundswell of emotion, says its chairman P. Waytha Moorthy.

In a press statement, the organisation’s leader-in-exile said that “declaring Hindraf as an illegal organisation will in any case not banish the spirit that created Hindraf” and called on Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi “to advise his Home Minister to revoke the order.”

“Hindraf represents a very deep feeling experienced in the hearts and souls of millions of Indians both locally and internationally,” he claimed.

Yesterday, Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar announced the outlawing of the movement, saying Hindraf would continue to pose a threat to public order, the security and sovereignty of the country as well as the prevailing racial harmony.

“The decision to declare Hindraf an illegal organisation is not based on one or two of its activities that are in contravention of the law but covers all the actions it has taken since being formed,” he said.

Waytha Moorthy, who has been in exile in Britain since his fellow leaders, the “Hindraf 5”, were detained under the Internal Security Act, called the decision “dastardly and ludicrous”.

He added it showed the government is at its wit’s end and that “Malaysia is indeed a police state under the pretext of democracy" as it has used the ISA, Sedition Act and now the Societies Act to silence a “legitimate voice of democracy”.

“The Umno-led government enjoys demonising and bullying us on the pretext of law, public order and national security when all we are fighting for is to address the true and real condition of the downtrodden Malaysian Indians who have been systematically marginalised, suppressed and oppressed,” he stated in the e-mail.

“Hindraf represents the Indian commoner, the hard working oily-faced man who is made fun of in the streets, the man who people step on, the man who walks past you yet you notice him not.”

This current saga has developed against the background of Hindraf’s presence at the Cabinet Hari Raya open house, where over 200 supporters attended to beseech Abdullah to free the Hindraf 5.

On Tuesday, three other Hindraf leaders — S. Jayathas, K. Selvam and K. Shanti, Waytha Moorthy’s wife — were requested to present themselves at the Dang Wangi district police headquarters in Kuala Lumpur to have their statements on the incident recorded.