Protesters warn the Najib administration that if it voted against the UN resolution to probe the war crimes in Sri Lanka, they will vote against BN.
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR: Some 50 people staged a protest outside the Sogo shopping complex here and warned the Najib administration that they will not vote for Barisan Nasional if it did not vote in favour of the United Nations probing the war crimes in Sri Lanka.
The protesters were from the Malaysian Tamil Progressive Team (Matsap) and several other NGOs.
“Vote for Sri Lanka and you will lose our vote. Our sentiments should be respected,” said Matsap chairman A Kalaimugilan during the protest.
He also justified the call for supporting the UN resolution that would be tabled on Friday on the ground that majority of the 1.8 million Indians here are ethnic Tamilians.
Kalaimugilan added that currently Asian countries, including Malaysia, were having sentiments to vote against the resolution simply because Sri Lanka was an Asian nation.
He warned the government of another Indian uprising akin to the Hindraf rally in 2007 if the sentiments of the Malaysian Tamils were not taken into consideration.
“Don’t make us rise again like we did in 2007,” he said.
Kalaimugilan also chastised the Najib administration for supporting a resolution in favour of Sri Lanka in 2009 shortly after Sri Lanka won the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
“If (Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) was concerned about the Tamils, why would he support (Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda) Rajapakse then?” he asked.
In a related development, MIC, MCA, Gerakan and PPP sent a joint memorandum to the Foreign Ministry calling for the Malaysian delegation to vote for the UN resolution.
Another group led by Malaysian Indian Transformation Action Team (MITRA) handed over a memorandum to the High Commission of India, urging New Delhi to also support the UN resolution.
UN must investigate
Meanwhile, a group of non-governmental organisations today submitted a joint memorandum to the United Nations office here, urging the world body to investigate the war crimes of the Sri Lanka government during its offensive against the country’s Tamils.
The group led by Suaram president K Arumugam and Teluk Intan member of parliament M Manogaran handed over the memorandum to the UN representative Devendra Patel.
Also present were Charles Santiago, the Klang MP, Micheal Jeyakumar(Sungai Siput), M Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat), A Sivanesan (Sungkai, Perak state assemblyman), M Ravi (Port Dickson Negeri Sembilan state assemblyman), town councillors and leaders from Pakatan Rakyat.
Speaking to reporters, Arumugam said the UN Panel of Experts (PoE) report on the issue stated that war crimes were indeed committed by the Sri Lankan military killing tens of thousands of Tamils during its offensive against the LTTE, which has now been disbanded.
“UN as an international body has an obligation to investigate the findings of the reports,” he said.
UPDATED
KUALA LUMPUR: Some 50 people staged a protest outside the Sogo shopping complex here and warned the Najib administration that they will not vote for Barisan Nasional if it did not vote in favour of the United Nations probing the war crimes in Sri Lanka.The protesters were from the Malaysian Tamil Progressive Team (Matsap) and several other NGOs.
“Vote for Sri Lanka and you will lose our vote. Our sentiments should be respected,” said Matsap chairman A Kalaimugilan during the protest.
He also justified the call for supporting the UN resolution that would be tabled on Friday on the ground that majority of the 1.8 million Indians here are ethnic Tamilians.
Kalaimugilan added that currently Asian countries, including Malaysia, were having sentiments to vote against the resolution simply because Sri Lanka was an Asian nation.
He warned the government of another Indian uprising akin to the Hindraf rally in 2007 if the sentiments of the Malaysian Tamils were not taken into consideration.
“Don’t make us rise again like we did in 2007,” he said.
Kalaimugilan also chastised the Najib administration for supporting a resolution in favour of Sri Lanka in 2009 shortly after Sri Lanka won the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).“If (Prime Minister) Najib (Tun Razak) was concerned about the Tamils, why would he support (Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda) Rajapakse then?” he asked.
In a related development, MIC, MCA, Gerakan and PPP sent a joint memorandum to the Foreign Ministry calling for the Malaysian delegation to vote for the UN resolution.
Another group led by Malaysian Indian Transformation Action Team (MITRA) handed over a memorandum to the High Commission of India, urging New Delhi to also support the UN resolution.
UN must investigate
Meanwhile, a group of non-governmental organisations today submitted a joint memorandum to the United Nations office here, urging the world body to investigate the war crimes of the Sri Lanka government during its offensive against the country’s Tamils.
The group led by Suaram president K Arumugam and Teluk Intan member of parliament M Manogaran handed over the memorandum to the UN representative Devendra Patel.
Also present were Charles Santiago, the Klang MP, Micheal Jeyakumar(Sungai Siput), M Kulasegaran (Ipoh Barat), A Sivanesan (Sungkai, Perak state assemblyman), M Ravi (Port Dickson Negeri Sembilan state assemblyman), town councillors and leaders from Pakatan Rakyat.
Speaking to reporters, Arumugam said the UN Panel of Experts (PoE) report on the issue stated that war crimes were indeed committed by the Sri Lankan military killing tens of thousands of Tamils during its offensive against the LTTE, which has now been disbanded.
“UN as an international body has an obligation to investigate the findings of the reports,” he said.
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