P. S. Suryanarayana
SINGAPORE: Defying Malaysia’s ban on the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), 11 of its activists staged what the authorities described as an “illegal assembly” outside the Prime Minister’s office at Putrajaya on Thursday. They were detained.
While their conduct will be “investigated” in the context of the recent ban, one of them, wife of Hindraf’s self-exiled leader P. Waytha Moorthy, may also be questioned for fielding their six-year-old daughter for political purposes. P. Vwaishnnavi is said to have carried a poster that contained a demand for the release of five Hindraf leaders, who were detained under the Internal Security Act last year. And, the authorities have not listed the child, who remained with her mother, as a detenu for the police probe under the Societies Act, which would apply to the Hindraf as a banned outfit.
Social practice
However, a Hindraf leader has now informed an international human rights organisation that “the baby” and 11 other adults were “arrested for attempting to invite Prime Minister [Abdullah Ahmad Badawi] to their [planned] Deepavali Open House.” A social practice in Muslim-majority and multicultural Malaysia is to organise “open houses” as occasions for people to exchange pleasantries and views, cutting across the ethnic and religious lines.
According to the leader, the child, in her letter, had also sought, “as a Deepavali gift for all Malaysians,” the release of the group’s five leaders and “all others in prison under ISA.”
The five Hindraf leaders are P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganapati Rao (alias Ganabatirau), M. Manoharan, T. Kengadharan, and T. Vasanthakumar. The rights panel was further informed that the request for “the release of all prisoners of conscience” in Malaysia covered the case of a prominent Malay blogger as well.