Los Angeles Malaysians Protest Discriminatory Poliicies Back Home
Wed, 2008-02-20 03:09
Los Angeles, 20 February, (Asiantribune.com): Americans of diverse religious and ethnic origins, including several Hindus of Malaysian descent, gathered in front of the Malaysian Consulate in Los Angeles, California, on February 16, 2008, to protest alleged discriminatory policies of the Malaysian government and the ongoing detention of the leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF). The rally, co-sponsored by the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), a U.S. based human rights group, was held just one day after another peaceful demonstration was brutally ended with tear gas, chemical laced water cannons and the arrests of 160 Malaysian Hindus, including children, in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur.
According to the Hindu American Foundation (HAF), "The Malaysian government's policies vis a vis Indians is nothing less than ethnic apartheid," said Samir Kalra, a recent addition to the HAF Executive Council. "The increasingly brutal repression, rampant discrimination and neglect of the Indian minority, lack of basic human rights -- including that of peaceful assembly -- enshrined under Malaysia's constitution and international law, and a creeping Islamization of an ostensibly secular civil society can no longer be ignored."
The HAF protest rally co-sponsored in Los Angeles coincided with similar rallies held in New York, London, Dublin, Brussels, Melbourne, Auckland, New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Singapore, and Jakarta over the weekend. The "rose rally" held in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur, where demonstrators carried roses, was to symbolize the ethnic Indian struggle for equal rights and for an end to policies of religious apartheid favoring Muslim Malays.
In an effort to suppress the rally, the Malaysian government blocked all roads leading into Kuala Lumpur, and “racially profiled” ethnic Indians traveling into the city, even pulling them off buses. HAF condemned the repressive tactics employed by Malaysian authorities to break up the protest, including the use of tear gas and physical force today. HAF has received reports from Malaysia that nearly 5,000 Hindus were detained by the police, beyond the approximately two hundred people, including women and children that were arrested.
- Asian Tribune - http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/9679
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1 comment:
As Malaysians we have a duty to tell the writer of this article that his Report of 5000 Hindus being held by the Malaysian Police is not true. This sort of reporting can put Malaysia in a very bad light and frighten away Indian and other tourists. An article by Dr Farish Noor recently about the way Indians entering Kuala Lumpur by car on the day of the 'Roses' speaks thousand of words. Even Dr Farish was made to write and ask ' Are Malaysians not entitled to move freely in Malaysia ?
The BN and the Police are ruing the situation and possibly using HINDRAF as a scare tactic to get the Malay and Chinese votes.
But the citizens of Malaysia are much more educated and wiser to the untruthful stories churned out by the BN Press and TV. in fact it is often disgusting to read the present Newspapers and watch TV. The BN is going beyond normal courtesies in its attempt to retain power by hook or crook.
PAKISTAN has shown "PEOPLES' POWER"
It is time that all Malaysians showed BN that WE, the PEOPLE, are the MASTERS. Not BN and its cronies.
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