SAD FAREWELL: A picture of Waythamoorthy and his daughter,taken after their breakfast in Singapore, before he departed for UK yesterday
SINGAPORE: P. Waythamoorthy, exiled in the United Kingdom, wants the Malaysian government to give him back his passport so he can come home and, if need be, face the music.
“I’m prepared to take responsibility for my actions. They can detain me under the ISA if they want to. But first, I want my passport back. And the government owes me an apology.”
Waythamoorthy said that he is not begging for his passport.
“What has been taken from me dishonourably must be returned to me in an honorable manner.”
Waythamoorthy holds Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar, the former Home Minister, responsible for revoking his passport.
“The government owes me an apology. What they did to me on April 19 last year was the most humiliating thing in my life,” he said.
That day at Gatwick Airport in London, returning from a conference in Geneva, the British immigration authorities informed Waythamoorthy that the Malaysian government had revoked his passport.
“I could not believe it. In fact, I had to ask the British authorities to seek a confirmation with the Malaysian government that my passport was, indeed, being revoked.
“They did and two days later, on April 21, I was forced — because of the revocation and my stateless position
— to seek political asylum, which was duly given to me.”
Waytha is sore that the former Home Minister had continued to deny having revoked his passport.
He has written to the government to reinstate his passport “but the current government and the current Home Minister” have remained silent about it.
According to Amnesty International Director in Washington, Waythamoorthy was the first human rights lawyer to have his passport revoked while out of the country.
Waythamoorthy was in Singapore when he spoke to Malay Mail. He said he travels under the Geneva protocol now.
“I can go anywhere, including Israel, but I can’t return home to Malaysia.”
He spent nearly two weeks here when we secured the telephone interview. His family — wife, seven-year-old
daughter and his twin sister — had travelled from Malaysia to be with him in Singapore.
He left for London, where he is now based, yesterday, after seeing off his family to Malaysia.
Waythamoorthy also met P. Uthayakumar, another ringleader of the banned Hindraf, on Saturday night.
Uthayakumar was detained under the ISA for his role in a massive antigovernment demonstration in 2007
and a highly-provocative memorandum from Hindraf to the UK government alleging ethnic cleansing of Indians in Malaysia.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak released him and two other Hindraf leaders in May, a month after becoming Prime Minister.
Balik-lah, says Syed Hamid
SYED HAMID: Waythamoorthy did not want to return to Malaysia
This was the response of former Home Minister Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar when told of the ex-Hindraf leader’s wish to return to Malaysia after spending the last one and a half years in self-imposed exile in the United Kingdom.
To this day, Waythamoorthy still holds Syed Hamid responsible for his passport being revoked, but Syed Hamid denied he had ordered it.
When contacted yesterday, Syed Hamid seemed perplexed by Waythamoorthy’s claims that he is unable to return home.
“Nobody is stopping him from returning to Malaysia. He can come back if he wants to. He is a Malaysian citizen, it is his right to do so.”
He said he did not order for Waythamoorthy’s passport to be revoked but to be returned to its owner
instead.
Syed Hamid said the Home Ministry wanted to revoke Waythamoorthy’s passport, even before he
became Home Minister last year.
“But after I joined the ministry after last year’s general election, I had ordered for his passport to be returned to him. However, I was subsequently told that Waythamoorthy had surrendered his passport to the Malaysian High Commission in the UK, via his lawyer. I don’t knowwhy he did that, or if he did it at all,” he told Malay Mail.
Syed Hamid said the matter of Waythamoorthy’s passport was dealt between the Malaysian police force and the British authorities.
However, he said when Waythamoorthy had his passport taken from him by the British authorities
at the Gatwick Airport in London in April last year, the latter should have just returned home.
“He should have come back then. The British authorities should’ve sent him back.
“But from what I understand, he didn’t want to return to Malaysia, he wanted to stay there. And the British authorities allowed it. They even gave him documents for him to travel everywhere,” said
Syed Hamid.
On the possible repercussions that Waythamoorthy may face if he returns to Malaysia, Syed Hamid
said it would be up to the relevant authorities to decide.
“If there is an arrest warrant against him, or if the government has determined that he had committed
an offence or a crime of any sort, then of course the possibility of him facing whatever repercussions is there.
“If the police or Attorney- General want to take action against him, it would be up to them.
“But if he says he is willing to face the music , then by all means , balik-lah ( come back).
I don’t think anyone would stop him from doing so.”
WAYTHA: MAKKAL SAKTHI IS NO HINDRAF
SINGAPORE: P. Waythamoorthy says the new Makkal Sakthi party, formed by his former Hindraf counterpar t R.S. Thanenthiran, which will be launched on Oct 10, may not represent the original ideals of Hindraf but is an interesting development back home.
"Thanenthiran was my national coordinator back then, but here he's gone his way," he said.
Waythamoorthy spoke to Malay Mail before leaving Singapore for London yesterday. He was in the republic
for close to two weeks to rendezvous with his wife, seven-year- old daughter and his twin sister.
He also met P. Uthayakumar on Saturday night.
"The Makkal Sakthi party has nothing to do with us," he said.
Waytha said he viewed the formation of the new party as interesting.
"You must agree that people are more aware of the (Indian) society's plight since Hindraf," he said.
Hindraf was declared an illegal organisation on Oct 15, 2008, by then Home Minister Datuk Seri (now Tan Sri) Syed Hamid Albar. The decision was made under Section 5(1) of the Societies Act after the ministry was satisfied with facts and evidence that Hindraf had and was being used for unlawful purposes and posed a threat to public order and morality.
*******
Don’t vote, Indians told
THE main issue discussed by Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP) leader P. Uthayakumar and Hindu Rights Action Front (Hindraf) chairman P. Wathyamoorthy in Singapore yesterday was the Bagan Pinang by-election
in Negri Sembilan.
HRP media liaison officer S. Jayathas was also present at the meeting.
“We took a stand to remain neutral in the Bagan Pinang by-election. We urge all HRP members, Hindraf activists and Indian supporters not to vote,” Uthayakumar said when reached after the meeting.
He said it would not make a difference if Indians did not vote, as they did not believe the government, be it Barisan Nasional or Pakatan Rakyat, would fight for their rights.
“Because Umno sidelined us for the last 52 years, we decided to vote for Pakatan Rakyat in the last general election. But after Pakatan won its States, it sidelined us as well,” he said.
“Soon after Pakatan took over Perak, it gave plenty of land to the Malay and Chinese communities, and refused to grant State land for Hindu temples and schools,” Uthayakumar added.
In Selangor, he said, the Pakatan government was still unable to resolve the “cow head issue” and the Sri Maha Mariamman temple relocation, which had disheartened the Indian community.
He also said the current issue of villagers being evicted in Kampung Buah Pala in Penang was certainly not helping the situation.
Uthayakumar said HRP was contacted by Pas yesterday, which had asked to meet up with the group.
“Before this, it (Pas) never invited us for anything. Why does Pas want to see us now, just before the by-election?
“Until we see some changes that will benefit us, this is the stand we have taken towards both parties. And we urge all our supporters to do the same.”
Training for elected reps
THE Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP) is hoping to produce a new breed of parliamentarians and State assemblymen through an internal training programme it launched last Monday.
“Our programme focuses on grooming the youth and supporters to become future parliamentarians and State assemblymen,” its secretary-general P. Uthayakumar said.
“This is in line with our goal of creating an Indian majority in 15 parliamentary and 38 State seats we’ve identified,” he said.
Among the parliamentary constituencies it has identified are Padang Serai (Kedah), Batu Kawan (Penang), Tebrau (Johor), Cameron Highlands (Pahang), Ipoh Barat (Perak) and Kota Raja (Selangor).
Uthayakumar said the HRP training programmes were being conducted at its headquarters in Bangsar.
No comments:
Post a Comment