KAUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA, November 23, 2007: The ethnic Indians in Malaysia on Saturday rejected Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi’s appeal not to go ahead with their planned protest tomorrow which has been declared “illegal” by the government. The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), an influential nongovernmental group of ethnic Indians, said it will go ahead with its gathering aimed at airing their economic grievances to the British Government and asked authorities to allow them to hand over a petition to the UK High Commission here. Authorities yesterday arrested and charged three ethnic Indians with sedition after the government declared the rally “illegal.”
The rally is meant to support a USD 4 trillion lawsuit filed by the Hindraf in London in August, demanding that Britain compensate Malaysian Indians for bringing their ancestors here as “indentured laborers” and exploiting them for 150 years. Earlier Badawi urged the ethnic Indians not to go ahead with the rally. “We are not a nation where the people cannot voice their grievances, but it has to be done in the proper way. We have elections…they can contest, they can campaign, ask for votes,” Badawi said. Referring to Friday’s arrest of three ethnic Indians, including the Hindraf chief, Badawi said they had been charged with sedition after authorities had monitored their activities over a period of time.