HRP also wants the ICC to set up a fact-finding mission and come to Malaysia to investigate its complaints on the ethnic Indian minority.
Its pro-tem secretary-general P Uthayakumar (left), in an official letter to ICC today, claimed that the last 20 years had seen the poor Indian community to be the most vulnerable and softest target. They are allegedly subjected to state-sponsored acts of violence, racism and religious extremism. Highlighting the findings of the Malaysian Indian minority and human rights violations annual report from 2008 to 2010, Uthayakumar claimed the Indian community, which accounts for eight percent of the Malaysian population, have been subjected to systematic “ethnic cleansing”.
“Their villages and settlements have been demolished, temples indiscriminately demolished - even up to one Hindu temple demolished every 10 days, and 96 Hindu temples demolished between 2004 and 2007 in the state of Selangor alone, as revealed by the Selangor menteri besar,” he said.
“Further, their Hindu cemeteries and ethnic Tamil schools are systematically demolished. The latest case is the Bukit Jalil Estate in Selangor, where the last ethnic Indian plantation village, Hindu temple, Hindu cemetery and ethnic Tamil school was almost “ethnically cleansed” on March 15 to make way for a Malay Muslim cemetery.”
A copy of the letter was made available to Malaysiakini.
Uthayakumar claims Indian poor segregated
Uthayakumar said the Indian poor were segregated and excluded to equality and equal opportunities stipulated in Article 8 of the Malaysian federal constitution, guaranteeing equality before the law and equal protection.
He claimed Indian children were denied birth certificates, and another estimated 300,000 did not get their identity cards.
“They are also denied equal opportunities from the government fully-funded kindergardens, Permata Smart kindergartens, fully-residential schools, matriculation colleges, places in polytechnics and universities, the Public Services Department, the government and government-linked companies (GLCs), or scholarships."
The Indian community was also sidelined from top jobs in the private sector and GLCs, licences and business opportunities, as well as government contracts and supplies and other jobs, Uthayakumar said.
He claimed that in the state-sponsored Kampung Medan “mini genocide” in 2001, ethnic Indians were specifically targeted and attacked, resulting in five murdered and 100 injured.
“We have lodged thousands of police reports, letters and memoranda to the government of Malaysia but to no avail. As a result of championing all this, I, as the pro-tem secretary-general, have been maliciously prosecuted for sedition, where the trial is ongoing and a three-year jail sentence is hanging over my head.”
“This month alone has seen 53 Hindu Rights Action Force activists being maliciously prosecuted in four states for merely being members of the organisation,” he said, adding that he therefore appeals for the ICC to send a preliminary fact-finding mission to Malaysia to investigate the complaints.
Malaysia has ratified the Rome statute to become a member of the ICC this month. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz said he was pleased and happy that Malaysia could now be a respected country in the United Nations.
ICC is the first and only independent judicial institution with jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of international concern, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and aggression.
