By Joe Fernandez - Free Malaysia Today
KOTA KINABALU: Human rights movement Hindraf Makkal Sakthi is willing to disband itself worldwide in all its forms if three provisions of the Federal Constitution are “not observed more often in the breach”. This is with specific reference to the time-bound Article 153 (position, training privileges, legitimate aspirations), and two other Articles, namely 8 (equal rights) and 3 (religion)
Hindraf adviser Ganesan Naragan made this dramatic offer in response to stepped-up attacks in London and Malaysia by the opposition in recent days on the NGO as a racist organisation. Ganesan was recently in the news for turning up at the British Parliament to present a human rights report on the Indian community in Malaysia.
“Questions of whether Hindraf is racist and who represents Hindraf and who it represents will not arise anymore once it is disbanded for good,” said the Penang-based Ganesan. “Anwar Ibrahim – Opposition Leader -- too can stop labelling Hindraf, every opportunity he gets, as racist.”
He confirmed that the disband offer had the full support of Hindraf’s London-based chair WaythaMoorthy Ponnusamy, the 10-member National Co-ordination Committee and Hindraf chapters in Brussels, Geneva, New York and Australia.
He was clarifying a press statement he had earlier e-mailed to Free Malaysia Today in response to a full-scale attack on Hindraf by fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin who labelled the movement as racist as Perkasa.
Hindraf, he said, was standing up for the victims of racism while Perkasa was committed to illegally retaining what the ruling elite had amassed through distortions and deviations of Articles 153, 8 and 3. Hence, the question of the pot calling the kettle black does not arise, he added. “Perkasa is like the self-serving tail trying to wag the dog (Umno) to continue the policy of the fat cats squatting on all Malaysians.”
“It’s no longer of any use debating whether there are deviations and distortions in the implementation of Article 153 because all this has become academic,” said Ganesan. “The only thing to consider is the elimination of Article 153 from the Federal Constitution in accordance with the pre-Merdeka agreements.”
'Why pick on us?'
Hindraf, however is willing to accept a new “colour-blind” Article 153 in the Federal Constitution which caters solely for the underclass in Malaysia.
“Twice recently, Anwar labelled Hindraf as racist, more recently in London and a week before that in the Tamil media,” said Ganesan. “At the same time, he keeps hailing serving Special Branch officer and infiltrator V VasanthaKumar as the real hero of Hindraf.”
He added that Anwar should demonstrate a sense of responsibility and his loyalty as a law-abiding citizen by not associating himself with those on the run from the law.
“He (Anwar) must not think that all of us have suddenly forgotten what a racist he was in Umno,” said Ganesan. “It was racism that drove him and Mahathir to oust PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) from power by entering legions of illegal immigrants into the electoral rolls. This is an open secret.”
Both Anwar and Raja Petra, said Ganesan, are upset with Hindraf because the movement stands in their way of taking the Indian community for a ride “just as Umno has done for more than half a century through the MIC”.
“There are thousands of race-based and racist organisations in Malaysia,” he said. “Yet these two men pick only on Hindraf and activists in Sabah and Sarawak all the time to vent their frustrations because they know Putrajaya remains just a dream at the moment without their participation.”
Hindraf, said Ganesan, is open to all Malaysians as long as they subscribe to its struggle for human rights and equal rights.
He challenged Anwar and Raja Petra “to demonstrate that they say what they mean and mean what they say”. They could do this, he added, by accepting the concept of human rights and equal rights in Malaysia and their commitment to Articles 153, 8 and 3 of the Federal Constitution.
KOTA KINABALU: Human rights movement Hindraf Makkal Sakthi is willing to disband itself worldwide in all its forms if three provisions of the Federal Constitution are “not observed more often in the breach”. This is with specific reference to the time-bound Article 153 (position, training privileges, legitimate aspirations), and two other Articles, namely 8 (equal rights) and 3 (religion)
Hindraf adviser Ganesan Naragan made this dramatic offer in response to stepped-up attacks in London and Malaysia by the opposition in recent days on the NGO as a racist organisation. Ganesan was recently in the news for turning up at the British Parliament to present a human rights report on the Indian community in Malaysia.
“Questions of whether Hindraf is racist and who represents Hindraf and who it represents will not arise anymore once it is disbanded for good,” said the Penang-based Ganesan. “Anwar Ibrahim – Opposition Leader -- too can stop labelling Hindraf, every opportunity he gets, as racist.”
He confirmed that the disband offer had the full support of Hindraf’s London-based chair WaythaMoorthy Ponnusamy, the 10-member National Co-ordination Committee and Hindraf chapters in Brussels, Geneva, New York and Australia.
He was clarifying a press statement he had earlier e-mailed to Free Malaysia Today in response to a full-scale attack on Hindraf by fugitive blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin who labelled the movement as racist as Perkasa.
Hindraf, he said, was standing up for the victims of racism while Perkasa was committed to illegally retaining what the ruling elite had amassed through distortions and deviations of Articles 153, 8 and 3. Hence, the question of the pot calling the kettle black does not arise, he added. “Perkasa is like the self-serving tail trying to wag the dog (Umno) to continue the policy of the fat cats squatting on all Malaysians.”
“It’s no longer of any use debating whether there are deviations and distortions in the implementation of Article 153 because all this has become academic,” said Ganesan. “The only thing to consider is the elimination of Article 153 from the Federal Constitution in accordance with the pre-Merdeka agreements.”
'Why pick on us?'
Hindraf, however is willing to accept a new “colour-blind” Article 153 in the Federal Constitution which caters solely for the underclass in Malaysia.
“Twice recently, Anwar labelled Hindraf as racist, more recently in London and a week before that in the Tamil media,” said Ganesan. “At the same time, he keeps hailing serving Special Branch officer and infiltrator V VasanthaKumar as the real hero of Hindraf.”
He added that Anwar should demonstrate a sense of responsibility and his loyalty as a law-abiding citizen by not associating himself with those on the run from the law.
“He (Anwar) must not think that all of us have suddenly forgotten what a racist he was in Umno,” said Ganesan. “It was racism that drove him and Mahathir to oust PBS (Parti Bersatu Sabah) from power by entering legions of illegal immigrants into the electoral rolls. This is an open secret.”
Both Anwar and Raja Petra, said Ganesan, are upset with Hindraf because the movement stands in their way of taking the Indian community for a ride “just as Umno has done for more than half a century through the MIC”.
“There are thousands of race-based and racist organisations in Malaysia,” he said. “Yet these two men pick only on Hindraf and activists in Sabah and Sarawak all the time to vent their frustrations because they know Putrajaya remains just a dream at the moment without their participation.”
Hindraf, said Ganesan, is open to all Malaysians as long as they subscribe to its struggle for human rights and equal rights.
He challenged Anwar and Raja Petra “to demonstrate that they say what they mean and mean what they say”. They could do this, he added, by accepting the concept of human rights and equal rights in Malaysia and their commitment to Articles 153, 8 and 3 of the Federal Constitution.
