HINDRAF – Significant events

The Hindu Rights Action Force or in short HINDRAF is a Malaysian group made up from 30 Hindu Non-Governmental organizations that are committed to the preservation of the Hindu community rights and heritage.
Late last year, there has been some arrests of a few prominent HINDRAF members after the very much spoken about rally in November, the members were charged with sedition which were latest dismissed. Ever since then, 5 members have been detained without trial under the ISA (Internal Security Act).
Some of the major events that involved the HINDRAF like in October 2007 when four Group fellows and human rights members M Manoharan, P. Uthayakumar, P. Waytha Moorthy and S.Ganapathi Rao, K.Ulaganathan were arrested. They were detained for having been responsible for the demonstration which resulted in a Hindu Shrine being destroyed but was released after charges against them did not have sufficient evidence.
The HINDRAF also hold weekend forums which are peaceful. The objectives of the forums are to spread the awareness of the Hindu human rights but one of the recent forums were disrupted by the police and HINDRAF has since appealed to the Inspector General of the Royal Malaysian Police to continue these forums.
In 23 November 2007, three members of the HINDRAF was arrested. They are P. Uthayakumar, Waytha Moorthy, and V.S. Ganapathi Rao. They were charged under the Sedition Act for inciting racial hatred. However, there has been subsequent releases and arrests as the courts are unable to prove the case. The three members were eventually released.
Anther notable event took place when HINDRAF held a march towards the British High Commission. A class action on behalf of Malaysian Indians sued the UK Government for US$4trillion. The charge was for bringing in Indians into Malaya before independence as indentured laborers thereby “exploiting them for 150 years” with which the UK Government had failed to protect the rights of the minority Indians in the Federal Constitution when they granted independence to Malaya.
While they could not afford the required legal fee, they circulated a petition consisting of 100,000 signatures for Queen Elizabeth to appoint a Queen's counsel on their behalf.
The petition was to be submitted to the British High Commission on 25 th November 2007 but permission was denied by the Malaysian Police. The police force then set up road-blocks all over the Klang Valley which leads to the rally while examining motorists entering the city in hope to catch any potential troublemakers while advising the public at large not to join the rally.
In fact, the road-blocks had started a few days before the scheduled rally, causing great difficulties and traffic jams for motorists. During the rally, riot police was deployed which then used water cannon and teargas to disrupt the march. The peaceful protest, which saw an estimated 20,000 people held life sized portraits of Mahatma Gandhi and Queen Elizabeth as symbol of peace were generally unheeded by the riot police on standby who then used the anti-riot measures and subsequently arresting 136 people.
The rally and clashes caused some injuries but the Hindu temple in Batu Caves was untouched although there was some damages on the property. HINDRAF then reported that they have already sent the petition to the British High Commission by fax, an issue denied by the High Commission.
From the Government's standpoint, the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi issued a warning that if absolutely needed, the Internal Security Act will be used where one can be detained without trial. He also mentioned that he will listen to everyone whether or not what they have say is pleasant or not.
Due to the lack of hard evidence, the HINDRAF leaders were acquitted on 11 th December 2007, but one month later, HINDRAF leaders were detained under the ISA for 2 years with claims that there is a link with certain international terrorist organizations. This was seen as a form of shutting the leaders up.
There has been various other arrests under the Emergency Act and the ISA which was widely compared to the Operasi Lalang that took place in 1987. At this time, the governmental MIC party escalated their efforts to win some trust from the HINDRAF movement but failed miserably.
The detention of the leaders was met with much criticism from both local and international parties. Some foreign media attacked the way the government was confronting the issue claiming that they were poor in doing so. Opposition parties like the DAP vowed to fight the injustice while some NGOs became more vocal in questioning democracy from various viewpoints. The struggle was seen as noble to many and began spreading to other countries including the US, UK, Canada and Australia. Throughout the country, Hindu Temples had candlelight vigils seek to protest the detention, something that was widely opposed by the MIC President, Datuk Seri S Samy Vellu.
The HINDRAF then ran The Rose to the PM campaign where Vwaishnavi Wathya Moorthy, aged 5 will present a rose to the Prime Minister as a symbol of love and compassion. The scheduled event was 16 th February but the Malaysian Lower House was dissolved 3 days before that for the Federal Elections.