HINDRAF And Syed Hamid At Loggerheads

Syed Hamid Albar, the Home Minister is getting more popular by the day. HINDRAF and the Home Minister including Utusan Malaysia are at loggerheads.

It all started when a group of HINDRAF members visited the Prime Minister's open house during the recent Hari Raya celebration. What transpired between the PM and the HINDRAF group during their public meeting is unknown.

Syed Hamid Albar claimed that the HINDRAF supporters were making a scene in the presence of the PM, not properly attired and their visit was politically motivated. He claimed that HINDRAF plan to pass a memorandum to the PM to the release of the ISA detainees, including their leaders.

The HINDRAF group on the other hand, insisted that they are the PM's open house in the spirit of the Rumah Terbuka, a Malaysian custom. In addition, there intention was to pass a Hari Raya greeting card to the PM.

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From Bernama

Hindraf Lodges Police Report Against Syed Hamid, Utusan Malaysia

BUTTERWORTH, Oct 6 (Bernama) -- Hindraf today lodged a police report against Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Utusan Malaysia daily.

Its coordinator R. Thanenthiran claimed that the daily's front page report on Oct 4, titled "Hindraf diberi amaran" (Hindraf warned), quoting Syed Hamid, was unfair and smack of racial undertones.

He also demanded that Syed Hamid apologise openly as his statement had hurt the feelings of Hindraf members.

Speaking at a news conference after lodging the report at the Butterworth police station here, he claimed that the daily had twisted the facts about Hindraf's presence at the Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Hari Raya open house in Putra World Trade Centre in Kuala Lumpur last Wednesday.

Thanenthiran said Hidraf members had gone to the open house venue to hand over Hari Raya cards and to express the wishes that Hindraf leaders be released from detention.

Seberang Perai Utara OCPD ACP Zulkifli Alias, when contacted, confirmed that the police had received the report.

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The Star

‘Hindraf did not greet ministers at Raya open house’

KUALA LUMPUR: The Hindraf supporters who turned up at the Hari Raya open house at Putra World Trade Centre last week did not extend festive greetings to the hosts, said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

He said they were only interested in calling for the repeal of the Internal Security Act (ISA) and the release of the group’s five members held under the Act.

Abdullah said he was gracious enough to allow them in as he thought they wanted to wish him and the other ministers but was disappointed that their intention was not so.

At the open house last Wednesday, more than a hundred Hindraf supporters turned up while another group came in support of detained blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin.

Relating the incident to reporters, he said the police and security personnel who initially denied the Hindraf group access, sought clearance from him.

“I discussed it with (Deputy Prime Minister) Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and the other ministers. In that spirit I told the security team to allow them in.

“They came in and there was a lot of noise, I don’t know why,” said Abdullah, who was at the time welcoming visitors to the open house with his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah, Najib and wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor.

“I heard very clearly ‘Hapuskan ISA, Lepaskan Hindraf’ (Repeal the ISA, Release the Hindraf detainees),” he said, adding that he did not know if another group of 70 people who arrived later had wished anyone as he had left for prayers by then.

Meanwhile, Hindraf filed reports against Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar and Utusan Malaysia at various police stations nationwide for issuing and printing seditious statements about the movement.

Its national coordinator R.S. Tha-nenthiran said they were unhappy with the minister’s comments and the Malay daily’s biased reporting which painted the movement in a negative light.

Syed Hamid Albar was reported in Utusan Malaysia as saying that Hindraf’s action was a form of provocation and intimidation.

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From Utusan Malaysia

Hindraf diberi amaran

Oleh Saiful Haizan Hasam

KUALA LUMPUR 3 Okt. – Menteri Dalam Negeri, Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar memberi amaran keras kepada pertubuhan haram Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) supaya tidak menjadikan toleransi antara agama dan kaum di negara ini sebagai ‘bahan uji kaji’.

Katanya, tindakan mereka menyerbu majlis Rumah Terbuka Aidilfitri Perdana Menteri dan Menteri-Menteri Kabinet beragama Islam kelmarin adalah satu bentuk provokasi yang melampau dan menakutkan.

Sehubungan itu, beliau mengingatkan penyokong Hindraf supaya tidak menyalahkan orang lain sekiranya pihak berkuasa bertindak kerana perbuatan mereka itu bertentangan dengan tatasusila.

“Jangan uji banyak sangat tahap toleransi, mereka kena fikir perasaan orang lain. Janganlah hingga melampaui batas.

“Mereka tidak sensitif dengan agama orang lain dan itu bukannya ajaran agama Hindu,” katanya ketika dihubungi Utusan Malaysia di sini hari ini.

Beliau mengulas perbuatan sekumpulan penyokong Hindraf yang menimbulkan kekecohan pada majlis Rumah Terbuka Hari Raya Aidilfitri Perdana Menteri dan Menteri-Menteri Kabinet di Pusat Dagangan Dunia Putra (PWTC) kelmarin.

Tanpa mempedulikan peraturan, mereka bertindak mendahului barisan pengunjung lain yang sudahpun beratur untuk memasuki dewan sejak pukul 10 pagi. Walaupun timbul kekecohan, mereka dibenarkan memasuki dewan atas semangat hari raya.

Syed Hamid berkata, polis juga telah membuka kertas siasatan mengenai insiden itu dan akan meneliti bentuk tindakan yang boleh diambil.

Katanya, pada hari kejadian, polis tidak bertindak terhadap mereka kerana tidak mahu merosakkan suasana gembira pada majlis rumah terbuka itu.

“Penyokong Hindraf datang dengan membuat bising, ia perkara yang amat menakutkan bagi pengunjung lain.

“Mereka datang dengan niat hendak menunjukkan kekuatan, dengan pakaian khas, nak serah memorandum, kalau ikhlas mahu menyertai rumah terbuka, datanglah sebagai rakyat biasa,” katanya.

Beliau turut membidas kenyataan K. Shanti, isteri kepada Pengerusi Hindraf, P. Waythamoorthy bahawa pihaknya telah memaafkan dosa-dosa UMNO terhadap komuniti India.

Katanya, kenyataan tersebut bermotifkan politik untuk mendorong orang India membenci parti terbesar yang menaungi orang Melayu.

“Mereka ada kesombongan sehingga hendak mengampunkan UMNO,” katanya.

Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, Syed Hamid berkata, kerajaan tidak akan tunduk dengan desakan Hindraf supaya membebaskan pemimpin mereka yang kini ditahan di bawah Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA).

Katanya, penahanan itu dibuat secara sah dan tiada rakyat di negara ini yang kebal daripada undang-undang termasuklah orang Islam yang turut dikenakan tahanan ISA.

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From anwaribrahimclub.com

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 1 - Some 300 Hindraf supporters attended the Cabinet open house today to ask Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Badawi to release the Hindraf 5 and allow their chairman P.Waytha Moorthy to return to Malaysia safely.

Waytha is currently in exile in London. His wife, K. Shanti, gave Abdullah a gift basket containing a teddy bear and a Hari Raya card, which Hindraf claims has 300 signatories.

According to ideological coordinator W. Sambulingam, the card extended the group’s “forgiveness” to the prime minister for arresting the five Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act and asked “in the spirit of Hari Raya, that he release them.”

“When I shook his hand, I asked him when he would release the detainees and when my husband would be allowed to return home,” Shanti told reporters.

“He said he would let me know on another day,” she added.

Shanti was accompanied by her six-year-old daughter and about 70 supporters who were allowed into the dining hall.

However, some 200-odd supporters were not allowed in. Shanti said that, as a protest, none of the Hindraf supporters ate at the open house.

“We are not here to eat your food, we are here to seek the release of our leaders,” she said.

Sambulingam added that this was yet another attempt to avoid the group.

“We have his open invitation to the event, so we don’t understand why the officials were trying to block us,” he said.

Abdullah had earlier confirmed that the Hindraf supporters had first been stopped at the door but were then allowed in.

“I cannot have a special meeting with anyone. It is an open house,” he said when asked if he had met them.

The Hindraf group and about a dozen members of an anti-ISA group, who came clad in black t-shirts with slogans such as “I’m with RPK” and “Say no to ISA”, had gathered from 11am outside PWTC.

However, earlier plans by Hindraf to gather 10,000 people today failed to materialise.