KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 15 — The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has called on the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) to ensure the safety of protesters marching against “Umno racism” later this month.
Hindraf chairman P. Waytha Moorthy said the group was seeking an “urgent meeting” with IGP Tan Sri Ismail Omar and senior police officers to discuss protection for protesters from “agent provocateurs” likely to disrupt the February 27 march over the “Interlok” issue.
“This is an entirely lawful act and as the senior-most public servant in the security service of the nation, you are personally obliged to ensure that no untoward incident occurs during the march,” Waytha Moorthy said in a statement today.
He stressed that the march was “entirely peaceful” and the right to assemble provided for under Article 10 of the Federal Constitution.
He said Hindraf had submitted an application for a police permit as required by the Police Act on February 11 despite contending that the Act went against the spirit of Article 10.
The Hindraf chairman also said the group will hold the IGP responsible for any “untoward incidents” that may occur during its “Solidarity March Against Umno Racism” through his negligence.
He hoped the march will serve to highlight the “institutionalised racism” that has been practised in Malaysia for the last 54 years.
“It is time that the Umno-led government discarded all its racist policies which have created disharmony, mistrust, oppression and suppression of the minority communities in general and the Malaysian Indian community in particular,” he said.
The march is to protest the government’s refusal to withdraw the contentious “Interlok” novel from the Form Five syllabus.
Hindraf contends that the novel by national laureate Abdullah Hussein “promotes caste epithets, ethnic slurs, racial prejudices and communal stereotyping in the mind of the young”.
Police on Sunday arrested 59 Hindraf and Human Rights Party (HRP) members in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Perak and Negri Sembilan for staging protests against “Interlok” without a police permit.
mi1: Standby for water canon and tear gas
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment