Malaysian rights activists warn of further protests

Malaysian activists Tuesday threatened to take to the streets again to call for electoral reform following the government's crackdown on several mass protests in Kuala Lumpur.

Police have recently detained dozens of people, mostly on illegal assembly charges, but five leaders of an ethnic Indian rights group are being held under a tougher security act that authorises indefinite detention without trial.

They were protesting against alleged discrimination by Muslim Malays who comprise 60 percent of the population and control the government.

On Tuesday, Bersih, an organisation calling for electoral reform which led a rally on November 10 that drew over 30,000 protesters, said the same could happen again.

"People will make their protests known in whatever way they deem fit," Sivarasa Rasiah, a Bersih committee member, told reporters.

"It can take the form of street demonstrations, it can take the form of different protests but basically what you saw on November 10 is that sort of voice of the people and you could see that again," he said.

He was among several activists presenting a memorandum to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's office, repeating earlier calls not to extend election commission chairman Abdul Rashid Abdul Rahman's tenure beyond this year.

"If the PM is insistent on extending the services of someone we consider primarily responsible for the corrupt and unfree and unclean practice of elections in Malaysia, then he is inviting a response from the (people)," Sivarasa said.

Several recent street protests have enraged the government ahead of general elections which Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is expected to call next year.

Five leaders of the ethnic Indian rights group Hindraf were arrested last week under the tough Internal Security Act (ISA) which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

Ethnic Indians make up only 8.0 percent of the population and complain they run a distant third to the majority Muslim Malays as well as ethnic Chinese, who comprise 26 percent and dominate business.

Opposition parties and human rights groups condemned the arrests which Abdullah, who is also internal security minister, said were made to preserve national security.

New York-based rights group Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, urged the government Tuesday to release the five ISA detainees, three of whom had already facing Sedition charges.

"If laws were broken, then the offenders should be charged and properly tried, not detained indefinitely," said Elaine Pearson, deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.

Agence France-Presse - 12/18/2007 7:38 AM

1.HINDRAF

From left: R Kengadharan, P Uthayakumar, K Vasantha Kumar, V Ganabatirau dan M Manoharan.


US DEMANDS DUE PROCESS FOR ARRESTED MALAYSIAN ACTIVISTS

The United States demanded Thursday that Malaysia provide fair treatment to five leaders of a rights group held under a security law that allows for indefinite detention without trial.

The five from the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), pushing for an end to discrimination of ethnic Indians in multi-racial Malaysia, were picked up Thursday and ordered held under the feared Internal Security Act (ISA).

"Our expectation as a government is that these individuals would be provided the full protections under Malaysian law, that they would be given due process, that they would be accorded all the rights accorded to any other citizen, and that this be done in a speedy and transparent manner," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Hindraf enraged the government of Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi last month by mustering at least 8,000 people to the streets of Kuala Lumpur to highlight various issues facing ethnic Indians, including lack of economic opportunities and destruction of Hindu temples.

Police used tear gas, water cannons and baton charges to break up the protests.

"It is our firm position that those individuals who want to peacefully express themselves in a political forum or any other forum should be allowed to do so," McCormack told reporters.

Human rights groups have campaigned for the abolition of the ISA, a law that they say has been abused by the authorities.

The ISA is currently being used to hold more than 100 people, including about 80 alleged Islamic militants.

Human Rights Watch, a US group, said the arrest was "outrageous."

"We have said over and over again that the ISA should be abolished and there is no room for holding people, never mind indefinitely, without charge and trial," said Mickey Spiegel, the group's Asia division senior researcher.

The Malaysian government, led by ethnic Muslim Malays since independence, has always used deadly race riots in 1969 as a reason for controls on freedom, even though some groups believe that after 50 years of independence, Malaysians are matured enough to discuss their grievances openly.

"Malaysian authorities are obligated, like any sovereign countries' government, to balance the need for public order with equally important need for robust and free debate of issues important to Malaysian citizens," a State Department official said.

"It is our hope that the Malaysia government will allow the freest possible debate," said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a US non-profit law firm that helps defend freedom of all religions, charged that the destruction of Hindu temples -- some built before the start of the British colonial period almost two centuries ago -- could be an attempt to erase Hindu heritage in Malaysia.

Hindraf claimed one temple was being demolished every three weeks.

"What I have heard from people is really that in destroying these temples, they are trying to destroy evidence of how long the Hindu faith has been a part of Malaysia, particularly in the context of advancing Islamisation and of the equation of Islam with nationalism in Malaysia," said Angela Wu, the Fund's international law director.

Hindraf has filed a four trillion dollar lawsuit against Britain for alleged atrocities suffered by Indians whose forefathers were brought as indentured laborers to Malaysia during colonial rule.


MALAYSAIN PM DEFENDS ARREST OF ACTIVISTS

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi defended a decision to detain five ethnic Indian activists under a tough security law as in the interests of public order, state media reported.

The five leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), pushing for an end to alleged discrimination of ethnic Indians in multi-racial Malaysia, were picked up Thursday and ordered held under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

The controversial law allows for indefinite detention without trial.

"Our action is justified. We have to take action if something undesirable to national security and public safety happens," he was quoted as saying by the official Bernama news agency late Thursday.

"I am duty-bound to act because the people want the government to take action. The people don't want to see this country in chaos," he said.

Abdullah, who is also the minister responsible for internal security, said national security concerns overrode freedom of expression.

"Between the freedom of expression and public safety, I will give importance to public safety. If you want to speak up, you must follow procedures," he said.

"This is not a nation that shuts the mouth of everyone. The people are not dumb. If we want freedom, we must be responsible. Freedom cannot be given without responsibility."

Opposition parties and human rights groups, who have campaigned for the abolition of the ISA, slammed the government's actions and the United States has also called for the five detainees to be provided with fair treatment.

Dissident former deputy prime minister and ex-ISA detainee Anwar Ibrahim called for the Hindraf leaders to be produced before a court and dealt with through the legal system.

"They should charge (the HINDRAF leaders) in an open court but I have my doubts because in the past, you know, (the government) gives a general statement (on the reason for the detention), arrests them and six months later, forgets about them," he said.

"I think this is a very bad signal to the Indian community," Anwar, who is now in opposition, told reporters.

Anwar was heir apparent to former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad until his sacking in 1998, when he was hit with sodomy and corruption charges that landed him in jail for six years. The sodomy conviction was later overturned but the corruption verdict stands.

According to rights group the Voice of the Malaysian People (Suaram), the latest arrests take the number of people detained under ISA to 89. Almost half of those held are alleged Islamic militants.

Hindraf enraged the government last month by mounting a mass rally alleging discrimination in Malaysia, which is dominated by Muslim Malays.

Police used tear gas, water cannons and baton charges to break up the street protest, which drew 8,000 people and came just two weeks after another rare demonstration organised by electoral reform campaigners.

Agence France-Presse - 12/14/2007 2:28 AM (MSN)