Author: Anita Saluja
Publication: The New Indian Express
Date: December 7, 2007
URL: http://tinyurl.com/yq8paf
Leader of Opposition L K Advani along with
Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh would take up the issue
of the plight of the Malaysian Hindus with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Advani gave this assurance when Malaysian
Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) Chairman P Waytha Moorthy on Thursday
called on Advani. Waytha Moorthy met Advani and Jaswant Singh and other senior
leaders of the BJP and apprised them of the plight of the nearly forgotten,
marginalised and persecuted Hindu community in his country. About 10,000 Hindu
temples have been demolished in Malaysia since its independence 50 years ago.
Most of these existed from British colonial days and nearly 150-yearsold.
Hindus are stripped of their dignity and self-respect by this act by the vindictive
manner in which their temples have been razed to the ground.
The BJP strongly condemned the Malaysian Government's
policy of subjecting the country's Hindu community in particular and Persons
of Indian Origin (PIOs) in general, to discrimination, injustice and persecution.
The BJP urged the UPA Government to take up this matter with the Malaysian
Government at the highest-level with the seriousness it deserves. The Government
should demand an immediate reversal of this anti-Hindu and anti-PIO policy,
which runs counter to the obligation of all nations in the world to protect
well-established and universally recognised human rights of all human beings,
especially those belonging to minority communities.
It was pointed out that there has been a steady
attempt to Islamise Malaysia's multi-faith population (in which Muslims constitute
55 per cent). The Shariah Court 's rulings are being made binding on non-Muslims,
especially in matters of inter-faith marriages and the religious identity
of children. Nearly 70 per cent of the PIO population in Malaysia, which has
been living in that country for over 200 years, remain manual labourers, living
on daily wages. This underclass remains oppressed and suppressed, with the
government making no special budgetary provision for their economic and educational
advancement.
The number of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam
schools has dwindled drastically, even though the population has increased
manifold. The Government's neglect of the educational needs of the Indian
community is deliberate, since the authorities want to cut off the PIOs' cultural
and spiritual heritage.
Waytha Moorthy, who is a leading lawyer, also
shared information about the Malayasian Government's repressive crackdown
of the peaceful, legitimate and democratic protests by the Hindus. He underscored
the fact that the Hindus in Malaysia have always been loyal, law-abiding and
peaceful citizens. Three lawyers involved in taking up the cases of HINDRAF
and its supporters have been charged with sedition for speaking the truth.
Thirty-one participants in the recent massive
protest rally organized by HINDRAF have been falsely charged with murder under
a law that denies them bail. "All this is being done to instill fear
among the Hindus, so that they will not come out again to protest," Moorthy
said.
Singapore 's elder statesman and former Prime
Minister Lee Kuan Yew, who now holds the position of Minister Mentor, on Thursday
also called on Advani at his 30, Prithviraj Road residence here. The two leaders
held discussions on wide-ranging issues, in which the persecution of PIOs
in Malaysia also figured. Lee Kuan Yew not only fully shared Advaniji's appraisal
of, and concerns over, the situation, but also said, "Discrimination
on religious grounds in Malaysia affects not merely the Hindus. All the non-Muslim
communities in Malaysia - Buddhists, Taoists and Christians - are getting
worried."
