Author: AP
Publication: The Hindu
Date: February 16, 2008
URL: http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/000200802161757.htm
Malaysian police fired tear gas and water
cannons Saturday to break up a rally by about 200 ethnic Indians, some carrying
roses to symbolize their peaceful demand for racial equality.
The crackdown in Kuala Lumpur came ahead of
March 8 general elections and was likely to further alienate Malaysia's minority
ethnic Indians, who have long complained of racial discrimination in this
country that has an ethnic Malay Muslim majority.
Police detained 124 people at the rally, said
Kuala Lumpur police chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman. Nine people would be charged
with taking part in an illegal assembly but the rest have been released, he
said.
Those detained ignored a police order to disperse
and did have a permit to hold the assembly, Muhammad said in a statement issued
to the national news agency Bernama. Any gathering of four or more people
requires a police permit in Malaysia.
Among those arrested was S. Manikavasagam,
a leader of the Hindu Rights Action Force, or Hindraf, which organized the
rally. The group had sought police permission for the rally, but it was denied.
``This is ridiculous,'' N. Surendran, a Hindraf
member, told The Associated Press. ``We just want to express our right to
freely assemble.''
``This is a massive campaign of intimidation,''
he said.
Ethnic Indians accuse the ethnic Malay-dominated
government of depriving them of employment and education opportunities. The
predominantly Hindu Indians, who make up 8 percent of Malaysia's 27 million
people, also complain of religious discrimination.
Hindraf had planned to gather about 10,000
people, including 200 children, outside Parliament to hand over roses to Prime
Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi as part of the protest.
However, almost no children took part in the
rally out of fear of violence, and only a handful of protesters carried roses.
The demonstrators shouted anti-government slogans and jeered at riot police
who set up barricades on several roads leading to Parliament.
``Long Live Hindraf'' and ``We want our rights,''
they chanted before being chased away by bursts of tear gas and water cannons.
Abdullah condemned the demonstration, saying
it was an attempt to create chaos and undermine the election process.
``Those who are out to create trouble do not
respect our democracy process,'' Abdullah was quoted by Bernama as saying.
Abdullah's National Front coalition, which
has governed Malaysia since its independence from Britain in 1957, is expected
to easily win the elections, but with a smaller parliamentary majority because
of public concerns over inflation, corruption and crime.
The Indian anger was expected to further chip
away at government support.
``This election, all my family is voting for
the opposition. I don't want this government anymore,'' P. Selvam, a 55-year-old
company supervisor, told the AP before being detained at Saturday's rally.
It was the first public gathering by Hindraf
since police used tear gas and water cannons to crush a Nov. 25 demonstration
by at least 20,000 ethnic Indians in Kuala Lumpur.
