Hindraf to refile suit against UK gov’t

Aidila Razak (Malaysiakini)
Dec 20, 10
12:05pm

Hindraf founding member P Waythamoorthy is confident of being able to refile a class-action suit against the British government by July next year.

In a summary of his research, read out during the launch of his brother P Uthayakumar’s second book yesterday, Waythamoorthy said he had found 24,000 supporting documents in the UK Public Records Office.

“He has been working 12 hours a day in London with the help of two volunteers in London to search for these documents,” the 400-strong audience was told.

Hindraf had filed a class-action suit against the British government on Aug 31, 2007, prior to the historic rally it organised in Kuala Lumpur to demand compensation for Indian Malaysians whose ancestors were brought in by the colonial government as indentured labour.

It claimed that, after granting independence to Malaya, the British had left the Indians without representation and at the mercy of the majority Malays.

Hindraf also claimed that the Reid Commission was partly to blame for the government’s discriminatory policies as the commission did not provide for constitutional protection to the Indian community.

Waythamoorthy has had five meetings with the Queen’s Counsel about the suit, which was stalled because of the arrest of five Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

‘Police caused breakdown’

Uthayakumar’s book, entitled ‘Nov 25 Hindraf Rally 2007′, details the incidents leading up to the protest in Kuala Lumpur by some 30,000 people, and his subsequent 514-day detention under the ISA.

Published with the help of supporters including Kota Alam Shah state assemblyperson M Manoharan, the book blames the special branch of the police force for dismantling the Hindraf movement and splitting the group into several factions.

“Waythamoorthy and I were the only decision makers of Hindraf. When you are arrested under the ISA, your profile will go up and it is the role of the special branch to bring it down,” said Uthayakumar.

“They succeeded but we can’t give them a round of applause because they destroyed Hindraf. But I can tell you now that still waters run deep.”

He added that he is not afraid of being detained again because being in prison has “sharpened (his) mind 10 times”, adding that the the reading that he did during detention has heightened his analytical skills.