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Hindraf exceeded its limits, says Malaysian Dy. Premier

SINGAPORE: Malaysian leaders on Saturday raised a chorus of “concern” over alleged links the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) might have developed with external terrorist organisations such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Following Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s overnight order to the police to “monitor” Hindraf’s leaders and their activities “closely,” Deputy Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak said the group “has exceeded the limits.”

Noting that he was “not saying Hindraf is a terrorist movement,” Mr. Najib warned that action could be taken against the group if it were found to have “links” with terrorists.

Hindraf leader and legal adviser P. Uthayakumar on Saturday filed a “police report” against Mr. Abdullah and several others for “defaming” the group by alleging links between it and the LTTE.

Samy Vellu, Works Minister and President of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), said his party “will not interfere” if the Prime Minister were to invoke the Internal Security Act (ISA) against the Hindraf leaders. The ISA provides for detention without trial.

Mr. Samy Vellu’s party shares power with the United Malays National Organisation and the Malaysian Chinese Association under the country’s long-established “Merdeka (Freedom) Social Compact.”

And, Mr. Abdullah once again commended this power-sharing formula in the current context of Hindraf’s campaign against the alleged “marginalisation” of the ethnic Indian minority.

The Hindraf leaders, according to Mr. Samy Vellu, had refused to meet him and discuss issues concerning Malaysian Indians.

He was speaking on the sidelines of an ethnic forum in Kuala Lumpur that was attended by participants from India as well.

Malaysian Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said he had told a Sessions Judge a few days ago, during the hearing on the bail plea for 31 ethnic Indians, that “there is a police report” on possible links between Hindraf and the LTTE. But the judge did not record this submission in the face of opposition from the defence team.

The accused, facing charges of attempting to murder a police official on the eve of the November 25 mass rally that Hindraf organised, were later refused bail.

Alluding to this intervention in court, Hindraf leader P. Uthayakumar had told The Hindu over the telephone from Kuala Lumpur on Friday that the court “expunged” the Attorney-General’s submission. Mr. Uthayakumar denied any link between Hindraf and the LTTE.

On a different front, Malaysian police issued a warning against holding any “illegal assembly” in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday in connection with the World Human Rights Day.

The Malaysian Bar Council called off a “Human Rights Walk,” originally planned for Sunday, after refusing to “contravene” constitutional freedoms by seeking police permission for the rally.

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