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Labels: Hindraf, Malaysia, Pak Lah, Pilihanraya

Labels: BN, Hindraf, Malaysia, Pak Lah

Malaysian activists held under controversial security - ManilaTimes
Guna ISA ke atas pemimpin Hindraf, PM tiada beza dengan pemimpin terdahulu - Harakah

ISA dragnet: 'Gov't is desperate'

MalysiaKini - Dec 13, 07 - The government’s decision to invoke the Internal Security Act (ISA) against Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders is an act of desperation, said an opposition party today.

DAP secretary-general Lim Guan Eng said the party “unreservedly condemns the arrests.”

"We urge the government to unconditionally release them and charge them in an open court if they've committed a crime. At least, we can use proofs and evidences," he added.

He was responding to the arrests of Hindraf legal adviser P Uthayakumar, lawyers M Manoharan, R Kenghadharan, V Ganabatirau and organising secretary T Vasanthakumar.

The five were picked up from various locations in Kuala Lumpur and Seremban this afternoon.

According to Lim, who is a former ISA detainee himself, the government invoked the security law in desperation to silence dissent.

"We think the government is desperate to use the ISA,” he told a press conference in Parliament. “ Even though they claim they have proofs, they haven't made them public," he added.

‘Purely evil’

The opposition leader also described the arrest and detention of the five, who have been sent to the Kamunting Detention Centre to be held for two years, as “purely evil mala fide.”

"They first need to go through 60 days in detention. If the authorities feel that they are still a threat to the nation, their detention can be extended for another two years," he said.

The five were detained under Section 8(1) of the ISA after Internal Security Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi signed the detention orders.

Under Section 73 (1) of the ISA, the police can detain any individual for up to 60 days without a warrant, trial and without access to legal counsel if he is suspected to have "acted or is about to act or is likely to act in any manner prejudicial to the security of Malaysia or any part thereof or to maintenance of essential services therein or to the economic life thereof."

After 60 days, the minister can extend the period of detention without trial for up to two years, without submitting any evidence for review by the courts, by issuing a detention order, which is renewable indefinitely.

MP’s suspension

Citing DAP MP for Ipoh Barat M Kulasegaran's suspension, Lim said: "We're also very sad that while preventive detention is used outside Parliament, an Indian MP has been also prevented from voicing out (inside Parliament)."

"The suspension, on flimsy and baseless grounds, shows the growing intolerance towards Indian voices," he added.

Explaining that he did not agree with Hindraf's allegations that "ethnic cleansing" and genocide had taken place in the country, Lim, however, said Hindraf's statement on the grievances of Indians "is real."

He said DAP will be calling for an emergency central committee working meeting to address the issue.

"As a first step, we want to take the legal step by filing a habeas corpus," he said, adding that the party has also planned to set up a support group to assist the families of the detainees.

Labels: Hindraf, ISA, Malaysia, Pak Lah

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi raised the country`s expectations for reform when he took office in 2003
He is not only weak, but..

"We have never been a police state," he said in an interview in his office in the sprawling the administrative capital of Putrajaya.

"To say Malaysia is heading into a police state is an untrue statement and is an exaggeration, especially under our current PM. He is very careful, open and transparent. I think there is a limit to everything."

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi raised the country's expectations for reform when he took office in 2003, vowing to fight corruption and usher in more transparent, open government.

Four years later, frustrations at the slow progress of his reform agenda, coupled with discontent over rising living costs, have boiled over into the biggest street protests in nine years.

More than 20,000 people defied riot police and took to the streets of the capital, Kuala Lumpur, in two separate protests over the past five weeks, on issues that chimed with the clamour for reform: fairer politics and more equal race relations.

The last major rally, staged by more than 10,000 ethnic Indians complaining of racial discrimination, drew world attention, particularly from India, whose prime minister voiced sympathy for the plight of the Indian diaspora in Malaysia.

Syed Hamid, who now has the job of explaining Malaysia's actions to the world, said the government tolerated criticism but street protests risked public security and stability.

"You have to distinguish between riotous behaviour and open and transparent discussion," he said. "There is no problem with open and transparent discussion."

RIOTOUS BEHAVIOUR

He also showed irritation at a media report that the U.S. State Department had also expressed criticism of the crackdown.

"If you look at every developed country, they don't tolerate riotous behaviour," he said, citing the large deployments of riot police in Western capitals during international summits such as the Asia Pacific Economic Forum and the World Trade Organisation.

"During APEC or WTO meetings, they close up roads in order not to allow demonstrators. We are (doing) nothing more than that."

Washington said Kuala Lumpur should allow freedom of expression and peaceful assemblies.

"We have repeatedly raised with Malaysian authorities our belief that citizens of any country should be allowed to peacefully assemble and express their views," Nancy Beck, U.S. State Department spokeswoman said in a remark originally reported by AFP.

"We also stated in our human rights report our belief that the Malaysian government places significant restrictions on the right to assemble peacefully."

Opposition parties and non-governmental bodies issued a joint statement on Wednesday seeking an urgent meeting with Abdullah to discuss the "recent crises" and press for national unity.

"We intend to purse the agenda of national unity and reconciliation ..., press on with our demands for free and fair elections, and work towards resolving the serious national problems we face," said de facto opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim.

The risk of street protests turning into riots is a real fear among many Malaysians, particularly those who lived through the last major eruption of racial violence in Kuala Lumpur in 1969.

Hundreds died in those riots between ethnic Malays, who make up most of the population, and ethnic Chinese. The current prime minister played a leading role in the immediate aftermath of that crisis to find a political solution to the racial troubles.

But the opposition accuses Abdullah now of using public order and the memory of 1969 as an excuse to stifle peaceful dissent.

In seeking to protect public security, police moved last weekend in the early morning to halt an annual human-rights march by just 60 people in the near-deserted streets of Kuala Lumpur.

Syed Hamid accused Anwar, sacked and jailed after he fell out with the then Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad in 1998, of instigating and organising the protests.

"When you start to instigate and you start to throw aspersion that can cause people to get emotional ... to organise demonstrations is not good. We have been very tolerant of him."

Labels: Bersih, Hindraf, Judiciary, Malaysia, Pak Lah, Polis

KUALA TERENGGANU, 4 Dis: PAS mendesak Kerajaan menghentikan 'political cleansing' di negara ini sebagaimana yang berlaku sekarang terhadap penyokong dan pemimpin politik yang tidak bersama dengan Barisan Nasional (BN).

Labels: BN, Hindraf, Malaysia

Labels: BN, Hindraf, Malaysia, Pilihanraya

KUALA LUMPUR, 25 Nov (Hrkh) - PAS melahirkan rasa kecewa dan dukacita di atas tindakan kerajaan yang menyekat dan menghalang perhimpunan Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) yang diadakan sebentar tadi sehingga tercetus insiden tembakan gas pemedih mata ke arah orang ramai yang hadir menyuarakan pandangan mereka secara aman.

Setiausaha Agung PAS Dato' Kamaruddin Jaafar berkata hak asasi manusia tanpa mengira latar belakang keturuan, bangsa dan agama untuk melahirkan pendapat dan menyatakan bantahan harus dipatuhi dan dibenarkan oleh kerajaan yang mendakwa mengamalkan sistem demokrasi dalam negara ini.

"PAS berpendirian, walaupun tidak semestinya kita bersetuju dengan pendapat dan apa yang mereka suarakan namun semua pihak harus menghormati hak asasi mereka untuk menyuarakan pandangan dan berhimpun secara aman," katanya ketika menghubungi Harakahdaily

"Kesimpulan yang kita buat ialah, himpunan hari ini adalah sebagai isyarat dan tanda kegelisahan sebilangan besar kaum India dengan dasar kerajaan yang tidak memberi manfaat kepada golongan miskin dan tertindas sehingga nasib dan kebajikan meraka terabai," katanya.

Katanya kerajaan mesti mengambil pendekatan mendengar 'suara hati' mereka dan berusaha menyelesaikan tuntutan atau masalah yang dihadapi berbanding 'menyerang' mahupun mengambil sikap tertutup untuk berbincang termasuk menuduh dengan pelbagai cemuhan perkauman yang semakin mengundang perasaan tidak senang mereka terhadap kerajaan selama ini.

"Ini adalah lanjutan dan sambungan yang membuktikan kerajaan BN telah gagal menangani nasib masyarakat berbilang kaum yang semakin hari semakin terhimpit dan terbeban nasib mereka baik dari segi ekonomi, sosial dan pendidikan," katanya.

Labels: BN, Hindraf, Malaysia, Polis

Labels: BN, Hindraf, Malaysia