A sick Hindraf chief wants to come home

By Baradan Kuppusamy

KUALA LUMPUR, March 5 — The already fractured Hindraf movement has been hit by an expected development with Chairman P Waythamoorthy — who has undergone a heart operation in London — wanting to return home to recuperate.

Waythamoorthy, the brother of founder P Uthayakumar who is now under ISA detention, is in self imposed exile overseas and wants a guarantee from the government that he will not be arrested, or in any way persecuted if he returns.

“He wants to be with his family and recuperate and recover from the operation,” a family member said when contacted today.

“He needs constant care, the type only his family can give.”

The operation for an irregular heartbeat and enlarged heart was successful but post operative care and family support is necessary, the doctors have told family members.

He is currently warded at a heart institute in central London and has also undergone angioplasty surgery three days ago. Waythamoorthy’s wife K Nageswary left for London two days ago to care for him.

In a statement to Malaysian Insider from New York, Hindraf coordinator R Shan said Waythamoorthy was suffering from a rare heart condition.

“He has an enlarged heart on the right and abnormal heartbeat which in most cases could lead to ventricular fibrillation or sudden death,” he said.

Shan said the right part of Waythamoorthy's heart has swollen and doctors were unsure of the cause.

Waythamoorthy is expected to undergo a second heart implant operation, Shan said.

“He wants to return to Malaysia for post operation care and be with his family,” Shan said urging the government to offer him immunity from arrest, harassment and prosecution.

Shan wants the government to issue Waythamoorthy a new Malaysian passport through the Malaysian High Commission in London.

The government had revoked his passport last year but he had travelled using a limited travel document issued by the British government.

In January Waythamoorthy attended a gathering of Diaspora Indians in India where he slammed Umno and the BN government of numerous atrocities against Malaysian Indians, most of which were rejected as “outright lies” by the MIC whose leaders also attended the conference.

Waythamoorthy has been in London since November 2007 after fleeing Malaysia ahead of the ISA crackdown on Hindraf leaders.