Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Help Indians, Human Rights Party pleads to Manmohan

(Malaysiakini) Having had no positive response from the Malaysian government, the Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRP) is now appealing to three international leaders, who are scheduled to visit Malaysia soon, to intervene and help resolve the social-economic plight of the marginalised Indian community in the country.

NONEHRP pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar (right) told Malaysiakini that the first leader in HRP's agenda is Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is scheduled to arrive in Malaysia today.

After Manmohan's departure, HRP will approach the Australian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur for assistance to meet with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who is scheduled for a two-day visit to Malaysia from Sunday (Oct 31).

HRP also hopes to meet with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her three-day visit to Malaysia from Nov 1.

While the elder brother P Uthayakumar is working in the country, to supposedly to free the local Indian community from the denial of their socio-economic rights and needs, his younger brother, Hindraf chief P Waytha Moorthy, is said to be working on the issues from his self-imposed exile in London.

In a series of media statements, both Hindraf and HRP leaders appealed to the Prime Minister of India to take up violations of basic human rights against the Indian minority in Malaysia, and on matters of the community's welfare.

The Indian wire news agency, Press Trust of India, in a report on Oct 20 carried Waytha Moorthy's appeal to Manmohan to take up the issue of "serious human rights violations" of Indians with Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak.

Indian PM Arrives For Three-Day Visit To Malaysia

SEPANG, Oct 26 (Bernama) -- Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh arrived at the Bunga Raya Complex, KL International Airport (KLIA) here at 7.05 pm Tuesday to begin a three-day official visit to Malaysia.

Dr Manmohan, who was accompanied by his wife Gursharan Kaur, was greeted on arrival by Human Resources Minister Datuk Dr S. Subramaniam and Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister A. Kohilan Pillay and Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Datuk S.K. Devamany.

The visit was to reciprocate the visit by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak to India in January besides expanding bilateral relations between the two countries.

On Wednesday, Dr Manmohan would be given a state welcome at the Dataran Perdana, Putrajaya, which would be followed by a delegation meeting where both prime ministers were expected to discuss bilateral, regional and international issues.

Najib and Dr Manmohan were also scheduled to witness the signing of several government agreements and memoranda of understanding.

Subsequently, Najib and Dr Manmohan were scheduled to launch the first Malaysia-India Forum of Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre (PICC).

Dr Manmohan and his wife were also granted an audience with the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin and Raja Permaisuri Agong Tuanku Nur Zahirah at Istana Negara, Kuala Lumpur.

Najib and Dr Manmohan were later scheduled to launch the 'Little India' in Brickfields, which would be the climax of the visit.

Najib and his wife, Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor would host a dinner for the government guests at Seri Perdana, Putrajaya.

Dr Manmohan and his delegation were scheduled to depart for Hanoi, Vietnam on Thursday afternoon.

The Coroner’s Inquest has failed in dispensing justice to Gunasegaran and his family

Joint Press Statement by eight (8) Civil Society Groups

We, the undersigned organizations, are deeply appalled by the “Open Verdict” of the Coroner presiding at the inquest of R. Gunasegaran who died in police custody on July 16, 2009.

As many as three witnesses have testified at the inquest that Gunasegaran had been kicked and beaten by a police officer until he was unconscious, and the second autopsy has found a 28cm long, 8cm width and 5cm depth scar on his chest.

We cannot believe that such a heavy physical assault and the resultant severe scars on Gunasegaran were not given the due consideration as the most probable cause of death. The coroner’s open verdict is simply unconvincing! We strongly criticize the dismissal of eye-witnesses’ testimony. The coroner’s inquest has apparently failed in dispensing justice without fear or favour, to Gunasegaran and his family.

Given that the authorities have tried to defer giving a copy of the post-mortem report to Gunasegaran’s family last year, and that the police officer “forgot” to report the death of Gunasegaran, we feel that the authorities are trying to cover up something.

The public’s confidence in our enforcement agencies is not only at a new low, but indeed in “CRISIS”.

When Selangor Chief Police officer Khalid Abu Bakar accused Aminul Rasyid who was shoot in Shah Alam as a criminal, he lied;

When the MACC said they did not have Teoh Beng Hock’s mobile phone, but the investigating officer told us later that the mobile phone was seized from MACC officer, they lied;

When the first autopsy report on the death of A.Kugan indicated that “he died as a result of pulmonary edema and did not highlight any of the physical trauma suffered by Kugan.”, and then the second autopsy pointed out “Kugan was tortured, starved before dying”, the pathologist lied.

How can the public continue to trust our enforcement agencies if they tend to abuse their power at the expense of Malaysians’ life and cover up by lies! We are frustrated over these violations of human rights cases. We urge the government to sincerely investigate the death of all suspected tortured victims and clean up the enforcement agencies by enacting a comprehensive human right act in order to reclaim the public’s confidence.

The act must be able to bring to an end the state-sponsored torture and prevent the recurrence of cases such as Gunasegaran, Teoh Beng Hock, A. Kugan, Aminul Rasyid; and others.

We also demand the Independent Police Complaints and Misconduct Commission (IPCMC) be immediately established to oversee our police force as the most glaring cases of merciless shooting and deaths in custody involve police officers.

Late yesterday evening, we were informed that Selvachandran Krishnan, a key witness at the Gunasegaran Inquest has been beaten up and arrested by the police in front of his wife. The police told her that he would be detained for 60 days. We condemn the arbitrary and violent arrest of Selvachandran .

We demand an explanation from the new IGP Tan Sri Ismail Omar on the reasons for the arrest. Selvachandran must be released immediately and the police must issue an open apology to the family.


Endorsed organizations :

1. Malaysians for Beng Hock

2. Saya Anak Bangsa Malaysia [SABM]

3. Suara Rakyat Malaysia (SUARAM)

4. Civil Rights Committee of KLSCAH (CRC-KLSCAH)

5. Youth Section of KLSCAH (YS-KLSCAH)

6. Malaysia Youth & Students Democratic Movement (DEMA)

7. Persatuan Kesedaran Komuniti Selangor (Empower)

8. Civil Society Committee of LLG Cultural Development Centre