This cosy “I help you, you help me” relationship, according to the report, finds expression in police brutality and impunity which is tolerated by the government. Hindraf cites a US State Department Report which alleges that the Malaysian government has no independent body to investigate deaths under police custody or during civilians encounters. “Other problems include police abuse of detainees, overcrowded prisons, use of the Emergency Ordinance (to escape prosecution) and other statutes to arrest and detain persons without charge or trial,” states the Hindraf Report with reference to the US report. “Persistent questions remain about the impartiality and independence of the judiciary.”
The report, in highlighting facets of what it calls a 'de facto police state' points out that violence against women remains a national problem. Malaysia, it says, is a destination and transit point for trafficking in women and girls for prostitution and domestic servitude.It blasts the government for failure to establish an independent commission to investigate complaints against the police. Such complaints include abuses perpetrated against foreign workers, illegal immigrants and refugees.
'Police disregard the law'
The police act with total disregard for the rule of law, it claims, and continue to pursue “a government-approved” policy of zero tolerance, especially towards Indians who are arrested and detained on suspicion of a crime, or killed during what is called “encounters”. “The average Indian detainee who is suspected of a criminal offence cannot expect any justice from the already-compromised judiciary,” the report alleges. “The judiciary works hand in glove with the economic elite and Umno, which rules the country.”
The report says Indians make up 90 percent of victims of police killings, despite constituting slightly below 8 percent of the Malaysian population. It adds, “Ninety-nine percent of cases involving police custody deaths of ethnic Indians have not been investigated to date. No police officer has been brought to account for those murders.”The report cites a New Straits Times article on Nov 11, 2009 that revealed 1,535 ethnic Indian detainees died or were killed while in police custody between 2003 and 2007 alone. The report is replete with incidents, complete with names, dates and places. Most of these incidents have been documented from both mainstream and alternative media reports.
It attributes the crime levels amongst the Indian community to its dire poverty. The report estimates 70 percent of the roughly two million Indians in the country as living below the poverty line, compared with the national average of 2.8 percent. It blames the New Economic Policy (NEP) poverty-eradication target - which claims to be regardless of race - for being skewed entirely in favour of the Malay community since 1970.“The NEP degenerated into an exclusive race-based system where all the resources of the country (state) were garnered and channelled by Umno to the leaders and members of the party and trickling down to their Malay constituency,” runs the report. “This administration mirrors the South African apartheid system. The government's own reports indicate that they are aware of the Indian problem but they have chosen to do nothing to redress the situation.”
The report noted that while NEP produced a sea change in the social attributes of the Malay community, unfortunately, “it has at the same time shut out the Indian community completely from the process of development, although the stated objective is poverty eradication among all races”.
'Form of apartheid'
It suggests that the exclusion of the Indians from the NEP's myriad poverty eradication programmes stems from the various implementation agencies focusing exclusively on the Malay agenda. As proof, the report points out that except for token representation in Felda, ten other major federal government agencies exclude the Indians altogether. These include the Federal Land Consolidation and Rehabilitation Authority (Felcra), Rubber Industry Smallholder Development Authority (Risda), Majlis Amanah Rakyat Malaysia (Mara), Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (Fama), South Kelantan Development Authority (Kesedar), South East Pahang Development Agency (Dara), Kedah Development Authority (Keda), Penang Regional Development Authority (Perda), South East Johore Development Authority (Kejora) and Terengganu Regional Development Agency (Ketengah).Other opportunities denied the Indians include federal and state government procurements and exclusion from the country's 'licence Raj', the report highlights.
The Indian underclass, according to Hindraf surveys, comprise those still living in the estates as well as those who have transmigrated to the urban shanty towns. Among these, it says 150, 000 to 200, 000 children are stateless while a further 200,000 Indians are not citizens. This completes the Indian poverty picture in Malaysia.One of the results is that 60 percent of the 330,000 Indians in the 15 to 34-years-old age group are involved in criminal activities, says the report, citing the human resources minister's announcement in Parliament not so long ago.
“The only known current policy towards the social problem (of crime) is the alarming increase in police killings,” alleges the report. “The acute Indian problems require multi-faceted intervention to address the issue, but have a low priority with the government which lacks the political will.”The Hindraf Report goes on to criticise the federal government's quota system in public university education, particularly in critical disciplines like medicine, law and engineering, among others. The result has been a further erosion of the Indian stake in the country, especially in sectors where they are known to shine and dominate.
The Hindraf Report does not focus exclusively on the Indian community, and makes limited references to other marginalised Malaysians like the East Malaysians.Apparently, Hindraf's political wing the Human Rights Party Malaysia (HRPM) gave foreign missions in Kuala Lumpur a preview of the report on March 26.
Source : http://www.malaysiakini.com/news/134032
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