Loud protests: Siva and Hindraf members demonstrating at the KLCC

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.

Dang Wangi district police chief Assistant Commissioner Zulkarnain Abdul Rahman said although the supporters dispersed peacefully as instructed, the police would still continue to investigate the organisers for holding an illegal assembly.

In Penang,it resulted in seven supporters being detained.They were later released after police recorded their statements. George Town police chief Assistant Commissioner Azam Abdul Hamid said they were picked up for obstructing police in carrying out their duties.

The supporters called for the release of five leaders detained under the Internal Security Act and for one of the leaders, P. Uthayakumar, who is a diabetic, to be admitted to the National Heart Institute (NHI) for treatment.

In Seremban, the supporters, including Uthayakumar’s wife K. Shanti and Senawang state assemblyman P. Gunasekaren, held signs and shouted slogans during a 25-minute protest in front of the Terminal One shopping complex.

Shanti claimed that treatment for Uthayakumar had been delayed for too long and his health had deteriorated.

Besides Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Seremban, rallies were also held in Butterworth, Ipoh and Johor Baru.