Hindraf briefs Downing Street on Indian woes

By Athi Shankar - Free Malaysia Today
Hindraf supremo P Waythamoorthy briefed the British government recently on alleged serious violations of human rights in Malaysia, especially on minority Indian community.
He highlighted the Malaysian government's alleged deliberate attempts to deny Indian students their right to public university education despite attaining top results in qualifying examinations.
Waythamoorthy said he also submitted a copy of Hindraf’s Human Rights Report to Prime Minister David Cameron’s representatives during a 20-minute deliberation at 10 Downing Street in London.
The report touched on perceived violations of human rights and the marginalisation of the Indian community by the government, especially the Umno-led Putrajaya administration.
According to Waythamoorthy, he had pointed out to the UK government that the discrimination and marginalisation of Indian Malaysians on all fronts have been systematically carried out by the Umno-dominated federal government for past 53 years.
The British government was told that the Indian community here had been victimised by ethnic-centric and racist policies since the British colonialists left in 1957.
Complaint lodged with the UN too
Waythamoorthy urged the British premier to make an urgent representation to Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak’s government on the issues of human rights violations.
Waythamoorthy was accompanied by Hindraf UK member Anusiya Aparao and two others.
Anusiya, an active Hindraf member, stressed to Cameron’s officials that the UK government must seriously view and take up human rights violations in Malaysia.
The meeting was arranged upon Hindraf's request on an urgent basis in the wake of recent denial of educational rights to Indian Malaysian students.
On June 7, Hindraf lodged an official complaint to Geneva-based Githu Muigai - the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, on alleged discrimination against Indian Malaysian students.
Waythamoorthy has accused the federal government of denying deserving students any form of financial assistance to continue tertiary education.
He claimed that numerous deserving Indian students who achieved excellent results in STPM were denied government sponsorships or scholarships to further their education in public universities.