PUTRAJAYA: The government has no business apologising to P. Waythamoorthy, founder of the banned Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), who demanded this when alleging the Home Ministry had revoked his passport.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein said Waythamoorthy's international passport had in fact never been confiscated or cancelled.
Showing members of the press a colour photocopy of Waytha-moorthy's passport, which he said was currently sitting at the Malaysian embassy in the United Kingdom, Hishammuddin said Waythamoorthy could go over to the office in London, collect the document and come home.
"Why should we apologise to him? Would you? Of course not.
"Never did we confiscate his passport ... it was him who gave his passport up to our high commission there.
"His passport is still valid and it expires only on Oct 17, 2010. So, as far as I am concerned, he can use the document to come home before that date."
Hishammuddin's statement supported his predecessor Tan Sri Syed Hamid Albar's statement recently that he had not issued a directive to revoke the passport of Waythamoorthy, who is self-exiled and has been living in London since the government crackdown on the organisation in 2007.
He had been permitted to stay there after seeking asylum from the British government.
On reports that there were 231 asylum seekers from Malaysia in Australia and another eight in immigration detention centres there, Hishammuddin said the matter would be discussed in detail with Canberra.
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The Malay Mail
No arrest warrant for Waytha, says IGP
MALAYSIA’S sole political asylum seeker in the United Kingdom, lawyer P. Waythamoorthy, can rest assured that his return home will be an uneventful one — as far as the police are concerned.
WAYTHA: Police say they have no reason to arrest him
“After going through our records, we found that we have no reason to arrest him for anything. Since the Home Ministry has already said that he is free to come home, then that is what we will tell him too,” Musa said.
Waythamoorthy, in our report on Sept 28, had said he was prepared to take responsibility for his actions, even if it meant being detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
On Sept 29, Malay Mail reported Home Ministry secretary-general Datuk Mahmood Adam refuting Waythamoorthy’s claim that the Malaysian government had revoked his passport on April 19 last year, preventing him from coming home.
Mahmood said Waythamoorthy had surrendered his passport to the Malaysian High Commission in London, via his lawyer.
He also scoffed at Waythamoorthy’s claim that he had written to the government to reinstate his passport but the current government and the current Home Minister had remained silent.
“He had written to us once to ask for a new passport and we replied to say that we will not give him one as his passport is still valid. Why does he want a new passport? It is unlawful for anyone to own two passports,” Mahmood had said.
Waythamoorthy’s passport is valid until Oct 17, 2010. Meanwhile, Mahmood said that the former Hindraf leader can come home anytime as there is nobody stopping him from doing so.
Mahmood also said that there was no warrant to detain the former Hindraf ringleader under the Internal Security Act (ISA).
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