Hindraf rallies nationwide

The Star, AFP & NST May 11, 2008
Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) supporters held nationwide protests to call for the abolition of the Internal Security Act (ISA), the freeing of ISA detainees and for detained Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar to have proper medical treatment for his heart condition.
In Kuala Lumpur, some 50 supporters, including Subang Member of Parliament R. Sivarasa, gathered for half an hour in front of the Suria KLCC shopping centre in Jalan Ampang as some 200 policemen kept a close guard.
According to AFP, Siva said the government should release ISA detainees unless they had proof to charge them in open court. “As far as I am concerned, one day under ISA detention is too long, one ISA detainee is too many,” he added.
Malaysia’s ethnic Indian activists demanded that the government provide medical aid to one of its leaders. They also warned the government to free those detained under tough internal security laws or face more street rallies.
Uthayakumar and four other members of the rights group Hindraf have been detained under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA) since December after holding an anti-discrimination rally.
“This gathering is to send a clear message to the government,” Hindraf coordinator S Jayathas told reporters.
Hindraf leaders angered the government last November with a mass rally alleging discrimination in Malaysia, which is dominated by Muslim Malays.
Mounting anger within the Indian community was said to have been a factor in the ruling Barisan Nasional’s drubbing in 8 March polls where it lost its two-thirds majority in parliament.

Caucus to tacke issues faced by Indians

NST, 30 April, 2008
RAWANG: The opposition’s Indian members of parliament have formed a committee to address issues faced by the community in the country.
Although the committee, led by R. Sivarasa (Subang) and S. Manikavasagam (Kapar), will table Indian-related issues in Parliament, it will also raise issues related to other races as well.
The committee will also come up with a guideline where assemblymen, too, can contribute to the cause by highlighting Indian causes.
Sivarasa said: “It will be an ongoing fight led by committed MPs to resolve many issues faced by Indians and to keep up the pressure on the government to attend to issues such as relocation of Hindu temples and to improve the physical condition of Tamil schools.
“Such problems (temples and Tamil schools) would be handled differently by us. Such issues have in the past raised questions on freedom of religion and human rights,” he said, without elaborating how differently they were going to handle the issues.
He said the formation of the select committee was also in line with the objective of the new Selangor state government to solve multi-racial problems at the grassroots level as it promised during its election campaigns.
He said the committee was formed because they believed that issues should be solved collectively.
“We do not believe in a one-man show. Any problem faced by anyone can be resolved by getting inputs from as many people as possible. The committee we are forming would play its role by liaising with all elected representatives to resolve the issues with consensus,” added Sivarasa.