MALAYSIAN POLICE ARREST ETHNIC INDIAN ACTIVIST

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 KUALA LUMPUR 001646

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/23/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREL KDEM MY
SUBJECT: MALAYSIAN POLICE ARREST ETHNIC INDIAN ACTIVIST
AHEAD OF PLANNED RALLY

REF: KUALA LUMPUR 1613

Classified By: Acting Political Section Chief Thomas C.
Daniels for reasons 1.4 (b and d).


1. (C) Summary: Police arrested an ethnic Indian lawyer
serving as legal advisor to the Hindu Rights Action Force
(HINDRAF) on charges of sedition ahead of a planned
demonstration on November 25. HINDRAF had applied to the
Kuala Lumpur Police for a permit to hold an assembly in front
of the British High Commission and to hand over a petition
with 100,000 signatures asking Queen Elizabeth II to appoint
a Queen's Counsel to represent the Indian community in a
class action suit against the British government for bringing
Indians as indentured laborers to the then Malaya and for
exploiting them for over 150 years. Police denied both the
permit application and a secondary appeal and later obtained
restraining orders against HINDRAF organizers from
participating in the planned rally. Some 10,000 to 20,000
people were expected to attend the planned demonstration,
which organizers had pledged to hold despite the denial of a
permit. Malaysian police, clearly reeling from the success
of the BERSIH demonstration two weeks ago (reftel),have
promised "stern action" against participants of the HINDRAF
rally. Following the same pattern as before the BERSIH
rally, police began setting up check points on major streets
and highways leading to Kuala Lumpur to prevent rally
participants from entering the city. Malaysia's Inspector
General of Police warned of heightened racial tensions and of
"gangsters" trying to take advantage of the situation. "We
will not sit back and allow this to happen," he warned. End
Summary.


2. (U) Acting on a court order, Police raided the home and
office of ethnic Indian lawyer P. Uthayakumar, legal advisor
to HINDRAF, on November 19, and later arrested him under the
Sedition Act on November 23. Police also obtained a warrant
to search the office of Uthayakumar's brother, HINDRAF
chairman Waythamoorthy, and issued restraining orders against
Waythamoorthy and three other Hindu activist lawyers. The
brothers were the principal leaders of a rally planned for
November 25 in front of the British High Commission in Kuala
Lumpur. HINDRAF, a coalition of activist NGOs supporting
ethnic Indian rights in Malaysia, had applied to the Kuala
Lumpur Police for a permit to hold an assembly in front of
the British High Commission and to hand over a petition with
100,000 signatures asking Queen Elizabeth II to appoint a
Queen's Counsel to represent the Indian community in a class
action suit against the British government for bringing
Indians as indentured laborers to the then Malaya and for
exploiting them for over 150 years. HINDRAF's law suit seeks
US$ 4 trillion in damages or US$ 1million for every Indian
living in Malaysia. Some 10,000 to 20,000 people, primarily
ethnic Indians, were expected to attend the planned
demonstration, which organizers had pledged to hold despite
the denial of a permit.


3. (U) Police officials denied HINDRAF's original application
for a permit, and on November 20, Kuala Lumpur Police chief
Zulhasnan Najib Baharudin subsequently denied HINDRAF's
appeal. At a press conference on November 22, Zulhasnan
claimed the demonstration permit was denied because police
had received information that criminal acts such as "fights"
and "arguments" would occur during the rally. Characterizing
them as part of a "crime prevention exercise", Zulhasnan
confirmed that numerous police checkpoints had been erected
around Kuala Lumpur to prevent rally participants from
entering the city. Prior to the BERSIH rally police began
profiling travelers wearing yellow shirts, and this time
police "believe (the demonstrators) will be wearing orange
shirts." Zulhasnan urged motorists not to enter Kuala Lumpur
over the weekend to avoid "being caught in the congestion."


4. (U) Malaysia's Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan
also spoke at the November 22 press conference and said that
police had received reports that "gangsters" would be used
during the rally to disturb the peace. "I strongly advise
the public not to get involved in any demonstrations as it
would jeopardize peace and stability," Musa said. "There are
certain quarters who want to pain a picture that the nation
is in chaos and that something is not right. We will not sit
back and allow this to happen," he concluded.


5. (C) Comment: While there is seemingly no legitimacy to
HINDRAF's US$ 4 trillion law suit, the suit itself serves
primarily as a rallying cry for larger issues facing
Malaysia's ethnic Indian community. Ethnic Indians remain
the poorest of Malaysians, and Indians have perceived
themselves as increasingly marginalized and as coming under
systematic attack from Malaysia's growing Islamization.

KUALA LUMP 00001646 002 OF 002


HINDRAF has been the principal advocate for Indian rights in
the face of the destruction of dozens of Hindu shrines and
temples at the hands of local city councils. The
demonstration planned for November 25 is clearly about much
more than the delivery of a petition to the British High
Commission to call for the appointment of a Queen's Counsel.
HINDRAF has successfully held relatively large demonstrations
in the past, most recently in July 2007 when HINDRAF gathered
some 2,000 to 3,000 people to demonstrate in the
administrative capitol of Putrajaya for greater attention to
the plight of impoverished Indian-Malaysians. Despite the
arrest of a central organizing figure, many Indians remain
committed to participating in the November 25 demonstration,
yet it remains to be seen if such a large crowd can be
assembled in the face of renewed police vigilence. We
anticipate the police will be much more forceful in
dispersing this rally, both as a result of police
embarrassment concerning the success of BERSIH's rally on
November 10, and as a consequence of latent racism often
channeled against ethnic Indians in Malaysia.
KEITH