The Hindraf Gathering
The Hindraf gathering was a success, judging by a MalaysiaKini report:
About 10,000 protesters demonstrated under the shadows of Kuala Lumpur’s iconic Twin Towers after their efforts to petition the British High Commission was thwarted by the police with tear gas and chemical-laced water cannon.
The protesters had attempted to gather outside the high commission early this morning but thousands were pushed back by the riot police to outside a two-kilometre radius of the venue.
However, the protesters later joined another crowd in Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) which surged to between 10,000 and 15,000 by 9.30am.
The protesters – a mix of young and old Indian Malaysians from all parts of the country - were addressed with loudhailers by Hindraf leaders, including P Uttayakumar.
In an attempt to disperse the protesters, the police fired tear gas and chemical-laced water into the defiant crowd every 10 minutes. Undeterred, the crowd retreated and then surged forward each time.
Hindraf leader A Sivanesan condemned the police for turning Kuala Lumpur into a war zone.
“Things are getting out of hand. We blame the police. They have beaten women and children. This is outrageous,” he told Malaysiakini.
Lawyer Haris Ibrahim, who led a 10-member Bar Council monitoring team, was stunned by the heavy-handed police action against the protesters.
“I’m not happy with the way the police are handling the crowd,’ he said.
DAP member of parliament M Kulasegaran was also upset with the crackdown.
“Over the last 50 years Indian have been marginalised in this country. And we now want the same rights as enjoyed by other communities,” he told AFP.
“They have no right to stop us from protesting today. This is the will of the people,” he added.
Foreign Reports
And an Al-Jazeera report showing Indians being mistreated by the riot police:
Choice excerpts from the report by the Al-Jazeera journalist:
- “They began firing tear gas canisters and spraying water as well as liquid based chemicals onto the crowd“
- “This is quite phenomenal given that this is a country which claims to be an open democracy” (on riot police firing tear gas and water cannons onto the peaceful crowd).
The news of heavy handed action is already making its way around the world. From the USA TODAY website, a Reuters report states:
Malaysian police fired tear gas and water cannons Sunday to disperse thousands of ethnic Indians who tried to stage a rally that had been banned amid government fears it would stir racial hatred.
Associated Press reporters saw demonstrators being beaten and dragged into trucks by police, who doused them repeatedly with tear gas and chemical-laced water.
Shoes, slippers and broken flower pots littered the scene outside Kuala Lumpur’s famous Petronas Twin Towers after protesters scattered to hide in hotels and shops. Organizers said hundreds of people were detained.
The rally — an attempt by ethnic Indians to highlight complaints that they are economically marginalized by the ethnic Malay Muslim-dominated government — was the second such street protest in Kuala Lumpur this month.
An in the Inquirer states that:
…
The government banned the rally, fearing it could spark racial violence and warned that anyone who participated would be detained.
Demonstrators condemned the tough police action and said that they would not be not silenced. At least a dozen protestors had been arrested, witnesses said.
“This act of police violence must stop. We are here to protest peacefully. We intend to march and hand over the petition to the British mission,” A. Sivanesan, a lawyer acting for Hindraf, said.
N. Vijayan, 40, an engineer, said the Indian community had been marginalized for too long.
“This demonstration should be a wake-up call for the government that we are really upset with its policies,” he said.
Ethnic Indians, mainly Tamils, account for eight percent of Malaysia’s population. A large proportion lack skills, money and education.
Why Malaysians Walked
Nathaniel Tan writes why he would walk in the rally, supporting a Hindu case:
I have seen though, division upon division. I’m sympathetic to some reasons for those divisions, as I feel many of the same frustrations those dissenters have felt.
But people are nitpicking over politics, over principles, over pride and over personalities. To me, the only thing that dominates the big picture is disunity.
The question remains: how much do we really want what we want?
If, like me, you truly believe that BN is the root of all rot, how much are you willing to sacrifice to see that their injustices are forever stopped?
Myself, I’m at least willing to go as far as walking on Sunday.
I don’t believe that an Indian-centric approach alone will solve the problems of the Indians, but I do believe that they have been screwed over like few others have ever been screwed over.
I don’t believe in sacrificing a more embracing conceptualisation (“Malaysian rights”) for an increasingly narrow one (“Hindu Rights”), but I do believe that some – if not all – of the grouses are perfectly well founded.
I don’t know exactly what levels of violence if any will be perpetrated on Sunday and by whom, but I do know that if there is any attempt to paint any violence as racial, that at least one Malaysian will be there to do his best to confound the unholy efforts of the spin doctors and bear witness to the truth.
I don’t know whether my walk on Sunday will end at the British High Commission, blocked at some LRT station, or back at the Dang Wangi lockup, but I do know it will begin in the spirit of unity and solidarity.
Wong Chun Wai of the Malaysian Star agrees that the problems faced by the Indian community are depressingly real:
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The Government is understandably unhappy with Hindraf but it should listen to the calls of the Indian community.
The majority of Indian voters, although their size is shrinking, have been loyal supporters of the Barisan Nasional.
Malaysia would not be where it is today if it was not for their contributions to the rubber boom and the civil service.
…
Today, many have their quarrels with the MIC but, like most Malaysians, they prefer the status quo for political and economic stability.
Still, there is this sense of alienation and of being marginalised even as Malaysia prospers. Issues such as poverty, lack of educational opportunities and temple demolitions have serious impact on the community.
There are serious social problems affecting Indians - they make up a large number of the inmates in our prisons and detention centres.
Gangsterism has become a major concern, and it’s not just the influence of Tamil movies. Some would say it is a question of being disenfranchised.