Hindraf leader's mother meets PM Badawi
16 Apr 2008, 2132 hrs IST,IANS
KUALA LUMPUR: Detained Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P Uthayakumar's mother met Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to plead for early release of her son who is seriously sick.
Uthayakumar's mother K Kalaivaniy was accompanied by 100 supporters and the movement's coordinator, R S Thanendran.
Thanendran urged Badawi to consider Kalaivaniy's request, adding that since there was no guarantee that Uthayakumar would get proper medical attention, it was only right that the government allowed his family to send him for treatment.
Badawi met them in his office Tuesday, The Star said. It did not report Badawi's reaction, if any, to the delegation, the first that has met him since November last year.
Hindraf, claiming to speak for two million Tamil Hindus, had staged a protest rally Nov 25. The government disapproved of the rally and it was dispersed forcibly.
Uthayakumar, 46, is the legal adviser to Hindraf and the Malaysian Peoples Reform Party.
He and three others - M. Manoharan, 46, V Ganabatirau, 34, K Vasantha Kumar, 34 have been held under the Internal Security Act (ISA) since November.
The government said it suspected Hindraf to have terror links, particularly Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and arrested some participants of the rally.
This was the second appeal in a week from the 66-year-old widow, who lives in Seremban.
She said her son's release was urgent, as he needed to take medicine for diabetes.
"He has not taken medication for his diabetes for a month, and this is very dangerous," she said Tuesday, adding that authorities' lack of concern for Uthayakumar's health could put him serious danger.
"When I visited him last week, he complained of being ill because he had not been on medication. I plead for my son's release and I will bear all his medical expenses myself," she added.
Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar said he would not go by "sentiments" and the decision to be taken by the cabinet would be dictated by "national interests".
The government has yet to take a decision on the representation made last year by 66 men charged with participating in the Hindraf rally.
Deputy public prosecutor Nik Suhaimi Nik Sulaiman Tuesday told the court they were still considering the representation and asked for more time as they needed to verify certain details. He asked the court to fix trial dates instead.
He told Sessions Court judge Azimah Omar that the prosecution would call between 80 and 100 witnesses to the stand.
Azimah fixed two weeks for trial beginning Sep 15.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Indians_Abroad/Hindraf_leaders_mother_meets_PM_Badawi/articleshow/2957386.cms
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All that the powers that be are doing is to keep the Indians underr threat. By keeping the 5 HINDRAF objectors of conscience in Kamunting the powers feel apparently that this should keep the Indians under some form of control.
To do all these, they contorted the story that the 5 were the linch pins of the LTTE - the dreaded Tigers of Sri Lanka. If the Tigers were actualy involved - would the scenario be what it is today. The reach of the Tigers is far and wide and surely they would have the resources to test the mettle of our strength.
o use the Tigers as an argument serves no defence for the Ag or the PM or his Ministers concerned.
Just say openly that the 5 would again lead the passive demos to seek the rights of the citizens of Malaysia whose wealth has been looted all these years by those whom , WE, unwittingly elected to positions of power.
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