Indraf brothers assaulted, BN blamed

DAP's P Ramasamy claims that the violent beating of V Ganabatirao and his brother Papa Raidu was 'BN-inspired'.

PETALING JAYA: The assault on two Indian Rights Action Force (Indraf) leaders last night was inspired by the Barisan Nasional government, alleged DAP deputy secretary-general P Ramasamy.

He claimed that Indraf leaders, V Ganabatirao and his brother Pappa Raidu, were assaulted as they were gaining support among the Indians masses.

“Some quarters felt that the success of the recent Indraf 2.0 gathering was a threat to their standing,” he added, without naming anyone.

Last night, Ganabatirao and Pappa Raidu were attacked by three men, after the duo attended a funeral in Taman Mutiara, Klang.

It was believed that the attack was linked to the Indraf 2.0 rally in Brickfields on Sunday, which was attended by nearly 3,000 people.

A police report had been lodged over the assault and the brothers were currently warded at the Seri Kota Medical Centre.

Apart from Ramasamy, DAP secretary-general Lim Kit Siang, vice-chairman M Kulsegaran and Selangor state chief Teresa Kok visited the duo today.

Ramasamy, who is also Penang deputy chief minister, urged Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak to condemn the attacks and called upon the police to carry out their duties without fear and favour.

“If no action is taken, the Indian community’s anger against the government will be further aroused,” he said.

Ramasamy said this was not the first time a Pakatan leader was assaulted, referring to the brawl that occurred between PKR and MIC Youth members at the Prime Minister’s Office early this month.

The brawl on May 3 left Puchong PKR division chief S Murali with a severe eye injury.

‘Beaten with steering lock and plastic chair’

Relating his ordeal, Ganabatirao said the assailants had used car steering wheel lock and a plastic chair to beat them.

The attacks, he added, had left him with nasal bone fracture and bruises all over.

“My brother suffered worse. He was assaulted so badly that he fainted at the scene. Pappa Raidu’s left arm is fractured and his shoulder is now dislocated. A surgery is scheduled for him later today,” he told FMT.

Whether he recognised any of his assailants, Ganabatirao said he recognised one of the men. “He used to persuade me to join BN in the past,” he alleged.

Northern Klang district police chief Supt Shukor Sulong, when contacted, said: “We’ll investigate the matter. Right now, we are looking for suspects.”

1,000 Indians voice support for Pakatan

1,000 Indians voice support for Pakatan

(Malaysiakini) Hindraf splinter group Malaysian Indian Voice (MIV) today held their first Hindraf-inspired rally, dubbed Indian Rights Action Force (Indraf) 2.0 in Brickfields today, with more than 1,000 packing a hall to voice support for Pakatan Rakyat.

Entitled ‘Unity Road with Pakatan Rakyat to Putrajaya’, the rally was co-organised by a coalition of pro-Pakatan groups and individuals, such as National Indians Action Team (Niat) chairperson Thasleem Mohamed and Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy under a newly-setup Indraf protem committee.

Pakatan bigwigs graced the event, that is believed to be Pakatan’s own way of attempting to replicate Hindu rights group Hindraf’s mass mobilisation of the Indian community in 2007.
The event began at about 3pm with the singing of the national anthem, while the cheering crowd waved flags of the Pakatan parties.

They also displayed banners with their 10-point demands, which  among others read ‘Hindraf will never bury the voice of Indian unity’, ‘The government should plan and implement a comprehensive policy for retirees’, and 'The government should put in place relevant measures to preserve and develop Tamil schools, language and literature’.

The MIV leaders, many of whom are Pakatan members, heaped praises on the opposition pact in their speeches and repeatedly urged the attendees to support Pakatan.

MIV chairperson V Raidu (at podium), in his speech, commended Pakatan for successfully resolving a list of longstanding problems affecting the Indian community within four years of their administration in four states.

He also announced that the Selangor government has approved 120 sites for Indian temples.

“Let us be united to bring change and take over Putrajaya,” he said to a roar of applause.
In between relay of speeches by more than 10 speakers from Pakatan and MIV, some periods were devoted to the singing of a Tamil motivational song and the chanting of “Long live Pakatan”, “Long live Indraf”, “Long live MIV”.

Among the Pakatan leaders who attended the rally were opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim, PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu, Penang Deputy Chief Minister II P Ramasamy, Puchong MP Gobind Singh Deo, Lembah Pantai MP Nurul Izzah Anwar and Selangor exco member Ronnie Liu.
'Gov't must provide appropriate affirmative aid'
R Kengandharan, who was an Internal Security Act detainee under Hindraf, noted that a rightful government must provide appropriate affirmative aid to an underprivileged group, but that was not the case with the BN government.

“If you have four children in a family and one is handicapped, then extra attention must be given to the handicapped one,” he said.

He added that the Indian community has “wasted 55 years” with MIC and the time has come to clamour for change.

Meanwhile, Mohamad, or fondly known as Mat Sabu, in his speech accused the government of stirring up racial sentiments again as the general election looms.

He said the demonisation of Bersih’s Malay supporters as backing a Hindu woman is a clear instance that shows Umno cannot abandon racial politics.

“But this is not a racial issues, this is about people’s rights. We will not waver but continue to strive to change the politics of this country,” he said.

The three-hour rally concluded with a round of cheers for Pakatan and a replay of the motivational song.

Hindraf to give Indraf 2.0 a miss

It says Pakatan state governments should first meet the demands in the memorandum to be submitted to Putrajaya at the conclusion of the proposed May 27 rally.

KUALA LUMPUR: Hindraf has decided to stay out of the rally dubbed Indraf 2.0, saying it would not endorse the distillation of its demands into the 10 points that the rally organisers intend to submit to the federal government at the end of the May 27 march.

“Hindraf still sticks to its original plan of asking the government to implement the 18-point demands raised during the 2007 protest,” the organisation’s national coordinator, W Sambulingam, told FMT.

“If we participate in the upcoming rally, then all the struggles since 2007 will become meaningless,” he added.

The 18 demands for action to improve the lot of Malaysian Indians were the subject of the massive Hindraf rally of Nov 25, 2007, which many observers believe played a major role in the unprecedented opposition victories in the 2008 general election. The 18 points have been summarised to 10 by the Indraf 2.0 organisers.

Indraf, which stands for Indian Rights Action Force, is a project of the NGO Malaysian Indian Voice (MIV). Spearheading the rally are Penang Deputy Chief Minister (II) P Ramasamy, NIAT president Thasleem Mohd Ibrahim and former Internal Security Act (ISA) detainees V Ganabatirao and R Kengadharan, both incarcerated for their activism as Hindraf members. Ganabatirao is also the president of MIV.

Sambulingam said it would be better for Ramasamy to use his influence in Pakatan Rakyat to ensure that the Pakatan-ruled states meet Indraf’s 10 demands first before asking Barisan Nasional to do so.

“The time has come for Pakatan to emphasise how it is going to cater to the community instead of demanding the BN to implement the 10-point resolution,” he said.

“We are not taking BN’s side, but the Indian community should understand that the current political scenario is different from 2007. ” he added.

“In 2007, Pakatan had not even been formed yet; so naturally we could only take our demands to BN.

“But now, Pakatan controls a few states and it has one Indian as deputy chief minister, two as state executive councillors and nine as members of parliament.”

‘18 points intact’

Contacted later, Ganabatirao rejected the insinuation that MIV was attempting to water down Hindraf’s struggle.

Referring to the 18 demands, he said they were in fact drafted by Kengadharan, who is a lawyer.

“However, MIV decided to shorten the 18 demands into a 10-point resolution,” he said, adding that all the original 18 points were intact. “This is a more reasonable way to approach the government.”

He also noted that the 10 points were tabled last year in Shah Alam at a gathering of Indians. He claimed that 10,000 people attended the gathering and that they adopted the resolution unanimously.

Thasleem, in a separate interview, said that Indraf was independent of Pakatan.

“Our protest is not against BN, but the federal government,” he said, adding that Indraf would not hesitate to protest against Pakatan if it were to capture Putrajaya and ignore the plight of Indians.

He said he had already submitted a memorandum to both BN and Pakatan, urging them to respect the resolution.

“However, only Pakatan responded to our voice,” he said.

He said he sent the memorandum to Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim and he pledged to ensure that Indians get their fundamental rights to education, employment and economic and social welfare if Pakatan wins in the coming election.

Thasleem also said no single person or group of Indians could claim ownership of Hindraf.

“Hindraf belongs to every Indian in Malaysia who took part in the 2007 protest,” he said.

May 27: ‘Indraf’ 2.0 rally

Since the previous 'Hindraf' rally in 2007 failed to resolve the Indian community's woes, a NGO is organising the 'Indraf' 2.0 rally to send a message to the powers-that-be.

KUALA LUMPUR: In 2007, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) held a mammoth street protest to highlight the woes of the Indian community. Now, comes the Indian Rights Action Force (Indraf) 2.0 rally.

Organised by NGO Malaysian Indian-Voice (MI-V), the rally would be held on May 27.

Announcing this in Parliament today, Penang Deputy Chief Minister P Ramasamy said it would be an avenue to express the community’s disenchantment with the Barisan Nasional government.

“For 54 years, Indians have been isolated from mainstream development. In 2007, we had Hindraf but still the community is marginalised politically, economically, socially and religion,” he added.

Also present at the press conference were Indraf pro-tem committee members – V Ganabatirao, R Kengadharan and Thasleem Mohd Ibrahim.

Ganabatirao and Kengadharan were part of the Hindraf five who were arrested under the Internal Security Act in the aftermath of the 2007 rally.

Whereas Thasleem was a key figure in galvanising NGOs to oppose the usage of the Interlok novel in secondary schools as the book contained offensive terms against the Indians.

10-point resolution

Kengadharan underlined three objectives that led to the coming rally, themed “Unity – Road to Putrajaya.”

“Malaysian Indians have no competitive edge. They have no influence in policy making and they don’t want piecemeal measures but want pro-active measures to uplift society that are done genuinely in the best interest of the country,” he said.

A 10-point resolution was also expected to be submitted to the government. These are:

1) Fundamental liberties

2) Freedom to profess religion

3) Right to education

4) Automatic citizenship for post-Merdeka babies

5) A replica of the NEP for Indians

6) Equitable approach to employment recruitment

7) Ration card system to eradicate poverty

8) All Tamil schools to be made fully aided schools

9) Pension scheme for the private sector

10) Enacting a Minority Protection Act and Inter Race Relations Act

Asked if other key leaders of the Hindraf 2007 rally would be invited, Kengadharan confirmed that an invitation would be extended to all.