Removing the blindfolds

Ever wonder what we'd be privy to in the newspapers if the government didn't have a stranglehold on the media, and free speech was prevalent? Probably this.

I got the Hindraf letter in the inbox today. The authenticity cannot be ascertained, but it seems pretty genuine to me. Only read it if you want to, and I'm only putting it up because I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of opinion. As in, if you call me unpatriotic, I will have the freedom to be of the opinion that you're a shithead.

HINDRAF
Hindu Rights Action Force
No. 135-3-A, Jalan Toman 7,
Kemayan Square,
70200 Seremban,
Negeri Sembilan Malaysia.
Tel : 06-7672995/6
Fax: 06-7672997
Email waytha@hotmail.com

15.11.2007
The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown Prime Minister of the United Kindom
10 Downing Street,
Fax: +442079250918
London, URGENT
SW1A 2AA

Dear Sirs,

RE: 1. COMMONWEALTH ETHNIC INDIAN PEACE LOVING SUBJECTS IN MALAYSIA PERSECUTED BY GOVERNMENT BACKED ISLAMIC EXTREMIST VIOLENT ARMED TERRORIST WHO LAUNCHED A PRE DAWN VIOLENT ARMED ATTACK AND DESTROYED THE KG JAWA MARIAMAN HINDU TEMPLE AT 4.00 A.M THIS MORNING (15.11.2007).

2. APPEAL FOR U.K TO MOVE EMERGENCY U.N RESOLUTION CONDEMNING "ETHNIC CLEANSING" IN MALAYSIA .

3. APPEAL TO REFER MALAYSIA TO THE WORLD COURT AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT FOR CRIMES AGAINST IT'S OWN ETHNIC MINORITY INDIANS.

We refer to the above critical matters in Malaysia but which generally gets the least attention locally even by the Opposition parties, NGO's, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission and the media for this community is generally regarded as politically insignificant, do not draw local or international funding and are deemed not pressworthy. To the contrary the Malaysian government has successfully projected itself to the world as a modern Islamic thinking country which is not true.

The ethnic minority Indians in Malaysia were brought in to Malaysia by the British some 200 over years ago. Since independence in 1957 the Malaysian Indians have been permanently colonialised by the Islamic fundamentalist and Malay chauvinists UMNO led Malaysian government.

Among the recent atrocities committed by this government are as follows:-

1.100 over Indians were slashed and killed by the UMNO controlled Malaysian government in the Kampung Medan mini genocide. Despite numerous appeals, the Malaysian Human Rights Commission has refused to hold a Public Inquiry. The UMNO controlled Malaysian courts struck off a victim's public interest civil suit for a Public Inquiry to be held without even the said UMNO controlled government having to file in their defence. The UMNO controlled Attorney General and the Inspector General of Police refused to investigate and / or initiate an inquest into the death of at least six Indians in this tragedy despite.

2. Every week one person at average is killed in a shot to kill policy and in every 2 weeks one person is killed in police custody. About 60% of these victims are Indians though they form only 8% of the Malaysian population.

3. In every three weeks one Hindu temple is demolished in Malaysia. The latest being the demolishment of the Mariaman temple in Padang Jawa, Shah Alam, Selangor early this morning ( 15.11.2007) and the next being the (Mutaiya) Hindu temple in Sungai Petani scheduled for the 29.11.2007.

A violent armed pre down attack at 4.00a.m this morning was launched by the UMNO controlled Malaysian government backed by about 600 police, riot police, Islamic extremist and armed terrorists which completely destroyed this temple.

In an attack two weeks ago, uniformed police, riot police and city Council officers hurled rocks and attacked unarmed Hindu devotees with knives, sticks and iron rods.

At least 20 Hindu devotees were seriously injured and 19 arrested including 4 of their United Kingdom trained lawyers in direct violation of Article 5 (Right to life) Article 8 (Equality) Article 11 (Freedom of Religion) Section 295 (defiling a place of worship), Section 296 (disturbing a religious assembly), 298A(causing racial disharmony) and Section 441(criminal trespass) of the Malaysian Penal Code.

These authorities are plagued by an above the law mindset and in fact liberally take the law into their own hands. These atrocities however does not happen to almost all Islamic places of worship. Please visit http://www.policewatchmalaysia.com/ for further and better particulars.

4. State sponsored direct discrimination against the Indians in Public University intakes, Indian (Tamil) Schools, skills training institutes, civil service and private sector job opportunities, business and license opportunities and in almost all other aspects of daily life.

Despite our hundreds of letters, appeals and pleas to the Malaysian King and Sultans, the Prime Minister, Attorney General, Inspector General of Police, Ministers, Chief Ministers and the latest being our letters to the Prime Minister dated 29.10.2007 and 30.10.2007 and to the Attorney General dated 1.11.2007 the Malaysian authorities are only proceeding with greater ferocity and with impunity with very little regard for the Federal Constitution and laws of Malaysia. So please help us.

CONCLUSION

We fear that this peace loving Indian community of Tamil origin having been pushed to the corner and the persecution getting worse by the day may be forced to into terrorism in a matter of time as what has happened to the Sri Lankan Tamils.

APPEAL

On our part we are committed to a peaceful and lawful struggle and pray and appeal that the Government of the United Kingdom :-

1. Moves an emergency United Nations resolution condemning these state sponsored atrocities and persecutions of Malaysian Indians in Malaysia .

2. Refers Malaysia to the World Court and the International Criminal Court for Crimes against it's own ethnic minority Indians

Thank You,
Yours Faithfully P.Uthayakumar Legal Adviser

So there it is. Interestingly, I looked up "Kampung Medan" on our good old friend, Google, and found what they were talking about. I'd never heard about it.

From Malaysiakini: Remembering Kampung Medan: one year after:

Prasana Chandran

Mar 8, 02 10:08am

There was a funeral, a wedding, and a misunderstanding over a broken van windscreen. These led to a full-blown racial clash in Petaling Jaya Selatan that left six people dead and scores others suffering from head injuries, slash wounds and broken bones.

Photographs in malaysiakinis possession are gruesome evidence of the extensive hurt, both physical and emotional, inflicted by the clashes.

One of the victims, V Vasu, 24, had both his hands hacked off by rampaging youths. Doctors managed to reattach his left hand but failed to save two of his fingers.

There are several large stitch wounds on his forearm and on his wrist. There is also an unsightly wound on his palm.

Another photograph shows a man with a 20cm healed wound from below the navel right up to the rib-cage. While a third shows a man with over 20 stitches on each wrist.

The infamous incident, better known as the 'Kampung Medan clashes', took place exactly a year ago today.

It is often compared to the racial riots of May 13, 1969 which was sparked off after an opposition party's election victory parade.

The May 13 incident has been frequently used as a bogeyman during election time by the ruling coalition to urge the masses to reject the opposition, claiming that a bloody riot could recur.

One wonders why the March 8 clashes had not been twisted to the ruling coalition's benefit as well?

Apart from the six deaths, the four-day long clashes, also saw more than 40 people hospitalised. The majority of the victims were poor Indian Malaysians.

The incident created a climate of fear, anxiety, suspicion and trauma as attackers armed with parangs, samurai swords, iron rods and sticks roamed the vicinity baying for blood.

The government has been accused of denying the racial dimension of the clashes, perhaps concerned over Malaysia's international image as it might rattle investor confidence.

Until today, despite numerous memorandums sent to the Prime Minister's Department and Human Rights Commission (Suhakam), there has not been a show of a response.

This has undoubtedly created dismay among the minority Indians in the country.

The wedding tent

The whole episode supposedly started with an Indian security guard returning from work at 3am on March 4.

He found a tent erected for a wedding in the middle of the narrow road in Kampung Medan. He grew agitated and started kicking the tables and chairs.

This angered the Malay family that was preparing for the wedding, who rushed out and assaulted him. He fled but returned later with a parang and five other cohorts.

A fight broke out and at one point, the security guard fled to a nearby house, belonging to an Indian family, where a funeral wake was being held..

The group of Malays, who assumed he was a member of the household, then set fire to a car and two motorcycles parked nearby.

This marked the beginning of the bloody clashes, which was further aggravated when an Indian boy, using a slingshot, smashed the windscreen of his neighbour's vehicle.

The angry van owner, an Indian, sought compensation from the children's parents. He was joined by his driver, a Malay, but some villagers who saw the commotion thought that a Malay was threatening the Indians. Rumours began to spread and the rest is history.

The fragile balance of inter-racial 'harmony' was tipped with dire consequences -neighbourhood quarrels led to a racial strife.

The accounts

A six-member team representing a network of NGOs for a Violence Free Community took upon themselves to record the names and injuries of the victims.

Below are some of the details:

March 8: A 26-year-old construction worker and his friend were returning to their homes in Kampung Semarak off Old Klang Road on a motorcycle at 10.30pm. They were attacked by about 50 youths carrying iron rods, wooden sticks and hockey sticks. His friend escaped, but the construction worker ended up with a broken right
leg.

Suresh, 19, sustained head injuries when he was assaulted by five people at about 10.30pm. The college student from Taman Medan was returning home when five to six youths obstructed his way. They asked him about his ethnic origin. When he told them, Suresh was attacked with sharp instruments and wooden sticks. He passed out. He suffered multiple slash wounds on the head and abdomen. He also suffered a deep slash which almost severed the wrist from his left hand.

March 9: Mathavan was assaulted by a gang of youths when he was returning home on a motorcycle. He suffered a leg fracture and injuries on his hands. His motorcycle was torched.

Annadurai was carrying goods in his van when youths attacked him near the Shell petrol station in Sri Manja (near Taman Medan). He suffered injuries on his head and hands.

Security guard Kanan was assaulted in Kampung Medan while returning home from work. He had head injuries, a fractured leg and suffered a hemorrhage in his kidney. Rajathurai was on drips and on a resuscitation machine.

Naharul Hisham sustained injuries on his hands and his fingers were almost severed.

March 10: A fifth form student from Kampung Gandhi who was in Taman Medan with his brother at 3pm were chased by about 100 men on motorcycles, armed with samurai swords, wooden sticks and iron rods. The two were caught and assaulted. His brother's hands were almost severed.

Norhashihadi was returning to Kampung Medan after work when he was attacked by 10 men. He suffered head injuries.

In Sungei Way, Indonesian worker Sujari was attacked by six men while Yong So Lin was attacked by three.

Muthukumar, from Bidor, Perak, was delivering fruits when he and his co-worker were attacked by youths in Kampung Datuk Harun. He sustained head injuries.

Anbalakan was assaulted by a few youths when he stopped at the traffic light near Kampung Datuk Harun. He was on his way home to Sungai Buloh. He had leg injuries.

Ramesan, a mute, was attacked in Kampung Medan, sustaining injuries on his legs and hands.

March 11: Sahjahan, a Bangladeshi factory worker, was attacked by a man in Sungei Way. He fell unconscious and sustained injuries on his head and hands.

Kathirvelu had nose and head injuries. Thinakaran had injuries on his hand and leg.

Parthiban, 19, had stitches on the face and head. Anbarasan had injuries on his legs, hands and ear.

March 12: Subramaniam was travelling from Brickfields in Kuala Lumpur to his home in Sri Sentosa when he was assaulted. He had injuries on his head and back.

Bakhshish Elahi, a Pakistani, and his partner were assaulted in a lorry by about 100 youths armed with pipes, swords and parangs. He had injuries on his head, legs and hand.

March 13: A lorry driver and a factory supervisor were attacked by youths with parangs. Four fingers on the supervisor's right hand were almost severed. He also had two slash wounds across his shoulders. The lorry driver's fingers on his left hand were almost severed. He also suffered a slash wound to the back of the head.

In the aftermath

Following the bloody clashes, a group of concerned citizens comprising non-governmental organisations and individuals came together to draw-up a memorandum that was sent to the Prime Minister's Department, after failing to hand it personally to premier Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the Parliament House last year.

In the memorandum, the group asked that financial support be provided for the affected families as the victims were from the lower-income group such as petty traders, lorry drivers and factory workers. And some families had lost their breadwinner.

The group asked for immediate socio-economic development programmes aimed at providing adequate housing, sanitation, community centres, recreational facilities, public amenities and places of worship in Kampung Medan and the affected areas.

The poorest of them, regardless of their ethnic background, should be given further aid to own houses.

There was a request for the setting up of a special multi-ethnic police task force as the police were perceived to have acted sluggishly during the first three days of the
clashes. Only a multi-ethnic police force would be able to handle Kampung Medan-type of conflicts that involve racial dimensions, said the memorandum.

The communities living in the affected areas have long been suffering from drug and gang related problems. These problems, however, are not merely confined to the Kampung Medan area. Therefore, the setting up of a national task force was in order to take a holistic approach to resolve the problems.

The memorandum said Malaysians from all walks of life face racial discrimination and religious intolerance. Taking the Kampung Medan incident as a cue, it called for a Race Relations Commission be set up in order to eradicate unfair discrimination.

However, there has been no response to the memorandum, and no Royal Commission of Inquiry into the matter.

A political party, Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim), has also been pressuring the government for adequate compensation and to investigate the cause of the clashes.

In the aftermath of the clashes, a BBC news article dated March 18, 2001 reported:
"Today, it is clear that beneath the normally tranquil surface of Malaysian society, dangerous tensions of the potential for violence still lurks."

I think there are a lot of fair requests in there. How did I not know about this? Oh that's right. Censorship.