The Umno government has, Uthayakumar said, “very successfully used its manpower, money power and media power to tear Hindraf into pieces”.
“I have failed. To me, they succeeded and I failed. You are fighting a giant. For us it is a non-starter.
“The root cause is that the Umno government forms the majority. Even though there are eight to 10 percent Indians in the country, there is not a single parliamentary seat with an Indian majority. It was very easy to crush us,” Uthayakumar explained.
Although he had served much time in prison under the defunct Internal Security Act and more recently under the Sedition Act for speaking out for the Indian community, he had been, he said, outed by the political strategy of the Umno government.
The Hindraf leader was sentenced to 30 months’ jail by the High Court in Kuala Lumpur on June 5, 2013, after accusing Putrajaya of genocide against ethnic Indians.
The
Court of Appeal on Sept 17 upheld Uthayakumar’s sentence but commuted
the punishment from 30 months to 24 months. He was released on Oct 3.Uthayakumar, a lawyer, is famed for having galvanised the Hindraf movement.
“Nobody had, in the previous 50 years, did what we did (gathering 100,000 Indians in the streets of Kuala Lumpur in 2007).
“I don’t know if it was luck, divine intervention or 50 years of oppressed feelings that it (the rally) burst out like that.
“Put aside the Malays and Chinese, the Indian elites - the educated Indians and the Indian businessmen - they never supported us.
“We never had support, except during the height of the Hindraf rally. After my release from prison in 2008, the support declined and there was no second line,” Uthayakumar said.
He said he felt very much alone, although there were a handful of others, who were willing to die for the cause of bettering the plight of Indians.
“The Indian elites, no one wanted to join us, even the brains. Number one - they looked at it like an uphill battle - how many people wanted to go to jail for a cause? And it was made worse that we do not have even one Indian majority parliamentary seat,” he added.
Five Hindraf leaders
The creation of five Hindraf leaders after the riot was the best strategy by the authorities to break up Hindraf.
“Before the rally, the truth was that Hindraf was just one man show - me, helped by two or three others. We just kept moving on and on.
“When
Hindraf took off with the rally - for some reason I just cannot explain
- it gained momentum and it just exploded. And the next thing I knew
was that everybody was a Hindraf leader.“One of the smartest moves by the government was to create five Hindraf leaders. Until Nov 25, 2007, no one was appointed to Hindraf by me.
“It was a political strategy (on the government’s part). For if they put me (in prison alone) under the Internal Security Act upon my release later, I would probably be more powerful than S Samy Vellu (former MIC president).
“So, ab initio, they put four others in with me, to dilute me. The first time I heard there were five Hindraf leaders was when the inspector-general of police announced it.
“Before
that, there was no such thing. At a time when we had only one, we had
no problem. (When there were five), there were bound to be differences
and when it comes to activism. they had only been active for three
months before that.“They only came in as speakers (for the rally) - they were not qualified to be detained under ISA - they were also caught off guard.
“Now, seven years down the road, when I go down to the ground, they say it was because of the five Hindraf leaders that Hindraf broke up. So, people are still talking of the five - actually there were no five.
"So, what becomes the truth, becomes the untruth and what is the truth, becomes the untruth. The Umno government could do it,” said Uthayakumar, who is looking to start a new chapter in his life by concentrating on his family for now.
Interview by Zakiah Koya, Alyaa Azhar and Ahmad Fadli KC.
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