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