Reaching out to all, Hindraf’s theme for 3rd Year (Malaysiakini)

The outlawed Hindraf (Hindu Rights Action Front) will reach out to all the marginalised, disadvantaged and under-privileged sectors of society in Malaysia as it enters its third year.

This is the pledge taken by Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy (right), a political exile in London after his passport number was allegedly “blacklisted by British Immigration when the authorities in Malaysia cancelled it”.

The British have since granted the human rights lawyer political asylum, travel papers and access to legal aid.

Waythamoorthy denies that he has had a sudden change of heart in exile and stressed that Hindraf was being stigmatized by Umno and the IGP (Inspector General of Police) Musa Hassan as a racist, extremist organisation run by terrorists.

Hindraf, he clarified, has never been all that ascribed to it by the Malaysian authorities.

“It’s seems it’s not racist for them (Umno) to discriminate against anyone and deny them their place in the sun.

“But if you speak up about discrimination and racism, they will label you a racist,” noted Waythamoorthy in an exclusive telephone interview last night with Malaysiakini from London. “We were never about Hindus or Indians only.”

Good progress on NGO cooperation front

Initially, the Hindraf chairman acknowledged, the movement started off by raising Indian issues “but we have always been prepared to work with others in the same boat as us.”

Waythamoorthy clarified that Hindraf cannot be taking up the cause of the Penans in Sarawak, for example, if the community itself is not willing to stand up to the “brutal repression” and does not throw up leaders who are willing to make sacrifices for the common good.

“If someone from the Penan community is willing to come forward and contact us, we will assist them in every way possible,” he promised. “I am just naming the Penan as an example. I have just been reading some articles in Malaysiakini on the Penans.”

Waythamoorthy initially touched only on the Penan community during his telephone call before coming to the “reaching out” reason for him to contact Malaysiakini.

He added that of late they have made good progress in working together with NGOs from Sabah and Sarawak. He then referred to their recent announcement in Singapore that they will be joining them for a briefing at the British Parliament in London in mid-January, expressing regret that there will be no Penan representatives among them.

Going forward, Waythamoorthy sees the House of Commons briefing being followed by similar affairs at the international level.

Other stops include the US State Department, the United Nations and the European Parliament. “We have firmed up everything so far except the European Parliament,” confirmed Waythamoorthy. “I have also been contacted by some Flemish advocates who want their region to separate from Belgium. Their society goes about these things in a very civilized way.”

He added that his Flemish experience will come in useful “since there are groups in Sabah and Sarawak who want to review the participation of their countries in the Malaysian Federation”.

“I am among those who agree with DAP vice chairman Tunku Abdul Aziz’s recent column in MySinChew that Kuala Lumpur should let Sabah and Sarawak go free,” he said.

“Malaysia has been a miserable failure in Borneo. It was apparent when Singapore left the Federation in 1965.”

Rather than owning up to the failures of the Malaysian Federation, charged Waythamoorthy, the ruling elite in Kuala Lumpur have been outdoing the British colonialists and “running Sabah and Sarawak indirectly through local proxies, traitors and stooges”.

“There is no excuse in the 21st century for the continued rape and plunder of the resources of Malaysian Borneo by the ruling elite in KL,” he said. “The Penans in Sarawak have particularly suffered because their communal forests are the last remaining stretch of virgin timberland in the state.”

The Taib government in Sarawak, Waythamoorthy is convinced, sees the Penans as a nuisance.

“There is no limit to the greed and avarice of the politicians in Sarawak and the Penans continue to suffer as a result of this,” said the Hindraf leader. “How long is this going to go on? There is no sign that Taib is going to go anytime soon. And he also wants his family members to take over from him just like the Brooke Dynasty of the White Rajahs.”

Hindraf, stressed Waythamoorthy, offers a way out for the Penans, “just as it offers a way out for every other Malaysian suffering under Umno’s rule.”

He leaves no one in any doubt that he sees Umno as “the sworn enemy of the Indian community”, others as well, in Malaysia.

“That’s why we were very disappointed that some Hindraf activists sold their souls to Umno and set up the Makkal Sakthi party to work together with the Barisan Nasional,” he said.”Makkal Sakthi (people power) is our theme and now this battle cry has been stolen by the BN to hoodwink the Indian community into capitulating to them. This will mean even more misery for the Indian community.”