Hindraf will actively lobby several countries to grill Malaysia when its human rights record comes up for review next year at the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, Switzerland. These countries include Israel and Germany, which reportedly fiercely criticised Malaysia during the last Universal Periodic Review in February 2009. “The Malaysian government must be held accountable for the unfulfilled promises and pledges it made last year,” said Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy (right). “A little more than six months remains for the next review,” he added.The lobbying of countries taking a keen interest in Malaysia's human rights record, according to Waythamoorthy, follows Hindraf lodging a formal complaint five days ago against Putrajaya at the UNHRC. The complaint was accompanied by a copy of Hindraf's Annual Human Rights Report 2009.
According to him, the UNHRC's rapporteurs and senior officials who received the complaint and the Hindraf Report include Githu Muigai, the UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance.The Hindraf chairperson expects the UNHRC to bring the contents of the Hindraf Report 2009 to the attention of the UN secretary-general.
“We are urging the UN to appoint a special rapporteur on Malaysia with oversight to monitor the continued marginalisation of Malaysians of Indian origin,” said Waythamoorthy. “This will facilitate liaison work with the UN secretary general.”
Abusing Article 153
Hindraf attributes the marginalisation of Indians in Malaysia to Putrajaya perpetuating the breach of Article 153 of the Federal Constitution “as a result of its complete control of the media”. The Article governs the legitimate aspirations of so-called non-native communities in the country. Hindraf's main beef is that non-native communities are denied equal education opportunities. As one consequence, they are also largely excluded from the state administration, police and judiciary. At the same time, the Article calls for the native communities (Malays and natives of Sabah and Sarawak) to be provided with training privileges through a reasonable number of places at government institutions. Likewise, the natives will be given a reasonable proportion of government scholarships, civil service jobs and opportunities to do business via government-created projects. All this is in recognition of the special position of natives as the first settlers in Malaysia, Hindraf noted in its formal complaint lodged with the UNHCR. “Instead, the government is employing a clean sweep strategy.” “The ruling Umno party excludes the legitimate aspirations of the non-native communities in its interpretation of Article 153,” said Waythamoorthy. “Such exclusion includes the ever-present threat of violence against any citizen who questions Malay-Muslim hegemony and other violations of the Federal Constitution.”
Displaced and stateless Malaysians
Hindraf's main issue of concern at the UN is the unresolved fate of 300,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) drawn exclusively from Malaysian Indians. These IDPs are allegedly those uprooted from plantations or estates without compensation, training opportunities and planned resettlement. Equally troubling for the movement is an estimated 150,000 stateless members of the community. They include children who are unable to attend schools or access medical and other welfare and state benefits and seek decent job opportunities. “We are also concerned about the arbitrary detention of human rights defenders and lawyers, and their prosecution on flimsy charges,” said Waythamoorthy, citing the case of his brother Hindraf legal advisor P Uthayakumar.Uthayakumar is facing the prospect of a three-year jail sentence for complaining in writing to the British Prime Minister “about the ethnic cleansing of Malaysians of Indian origin”.
Uthayakumar, says Waythamoorthy, has already served 514 days without trial “for the same offence” under the draconian Internal Security Act. The Act, a relic of the British colonial administration, was originally framed for the specific purpose of dealing with the threat of communist terrorism.
Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/133712
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