"AN ASSESSMENT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN IN MALAYSIA"

AN ASSESSMENT OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE OF INDIAN ORIGIN INMALAYSIA"
6TH DECEMBER, 2007 INDIAN LAW INSTITUTE, NEW DELHI- 110 001
BACKGROUND PAPER BY MR. P. WAYTHA MOORTHY PRESIDENT, HINDU RIGHTSACTION FORCE (MALAYSIA)
PUBLISHED BY FEDERATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANISATIONS OF INDIA
FACT FILE OF THE VIOLATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF THE PEOPLE OFINDIAN ORIGIN IN MALAYSIA

1. LOWEST PER CAPITA
Studies have revealed that Indians have the lowest per capita incomeof only about RM 1000.00 per month when the national per capita incomeis projected at RM17,741 in the 2006 budget (The Star Online September30th 2005) This is about 98.3% below the national average. At theground we are aware of many ethnic Indian families earning a meargeRM450.00 (USD 118.00) per month.

2. UNIVERSITY INTAKE
University intake for Indians reduced from 20% in 1956 and by about50% from the over 10% quota in 1970 to 5.2% in 2003. (Note: IF allMARA higher education institutes and overseas scholarships are takeninto account the Indians would actually end up having only about 1% ofintake into higher education institutions) In 2004 the supposedmeritocracy system was introduced but it turned out to be "meritocracywithout merits" Hundreds of especially poor ethnic minority MalaysianIndian students were deprived of their basic right to education.Matriculation courses for entry into public universities are almostexclusively for the majority Malay Muslim community.

3. MEDICAL SEATS
Medical seats in the University of Malaya was reduced by 98% from 16seats in 2001 to only 1 seat in 2003. This in effect means that thealmost 1.8 million Indians have to compete for just one (1) medicalseat at this university. When they opted to study at affordableUniversities overseas, the government in June 2005, in an effort toreduce the number of ethnic Malaysian Indian medical students studyingoverseas acted in the most hostile manner. The Crimea State medicaluniversity's medical degrees were derecognised for dubious andquestionable reasons. In an effort to reduce the number of Indianmedical doctors most other foreign medical universities with highethnic Malaysian Indian student enrolment is currently having itsstatus reviewed and is also expected to be derecognised.

4. TAMIL SCHOOLS
80% of the 523 Tamil schools (ethnic minority Malaysian Indianschools) are in dilapidated conditions with almost no sports,recreational, computer, library and other basic facilities accorded toNational Schools and is still not made fully aided government schoolswhen primary school education has been made compulsory by law. To thecontrary, the prime minister announced a sum of RM1.8 billion forprimary and secondary schools in the 2004 budget (NST 13/9/2003 atpage 12 (Note: all the above are in breach of Article 8 (equalitybefore the law and Article 12 (rights to education) of the FederalConstitution and the Education Act 1968. About 95% of these Tamilschools do not have kindergartens unlike 99% in national schools whichhave the same.

5. NO BUSINESS LICENCES / OPPORTUNITIES
Mearge or no business licences permits, business loans /opportunities / small businesses / commercial licenses for MalaysianIndians to run businesses resulting in less than 1% Indianparticipation in the country's economic wealth. (and that too believedto be largely held by one state sponsored Indian millionaire).

6. LABOUR CLASS
Hopelessness, poverty and lack of opportunities leads to high Indianinvolvement in crime arising out of poverty. 70% of ethnic MalaysianIndians have degenerated into becoming laborers, Industrial ManualGroup (IMG) workers, office boys, security guards, public toiletcleaners, general workers, road sweepers, beggars, squatters,criminals, gangsters etc, as a result of the nearly 50 years of directdiscrimination by the UMNO controlled state / government.

7. ETHNIC MALAYSIAN INDIAN POOR
Indians form sixty percent (60%) of urban squatters and forty-one(41%) of beggars (the economist 22/2/2003). About 70% of thiscommunity is in the poor and / or hardcore poor bracket but receivesthe least attention as they don't have much political clout and ordraw funding locally and / or their plight not properly ventilated bythe NGOs, Opposition parties and the Malaysian civil society locallyand / or internationally.

8. POVERTY AMONG ESTATE WORKERS / URBAN LABOURERS
Fifty-four (54%) of Malaysian Indians work as plantation or urbanunderpaid laborers. (Asiaweek 26/1/2002)

9. PATHETIC MONTHLY WAGES
After 46 years of independence the state has capped the monthly salaryof plantation workers at RM325.00 (USD85.00) per month and RM 350.00(USD92.00) per month for rubber tappers.

10. POOR STUDENTS
RM200 million was allocated to assist poor students to continue withtheir education (NST 13/9/2003 at page 12) but it is doubtful if even1% of the ethnic minority Indians benefit from this allocation.

11. SQUATTERS
Due to rapid development large plantations have been developedresulting in the plantation workers being displaced and forced tobecome squatters. Their squatter colonies are in turn demolished tomake way for development with no or little alternative housing.Classical case of poverty leading to further poverty.

12. ORPHANS / OLD FOLKS
The majority of orphanages and old folks homes are filled up withmembers of this ethnic minority Indian community as evidenced by localnews report. This is yet another clear indicator of poverty.

13. TOKEN PARTICIPATION IN THE CIVIL SERVICE
Discrimination in employment in the Civil Service sectors (Indianparticipation in the civil service reduced from about 40% in 1957 toabout 2% in 2007. This remaining 2% of these Indians largely work inthe clerical and industrial manual group (IMG) levels. Senior, Middlelevel and executive level civil service jobs are almost exclusivelyfor the majority Malay Muslims. For promotions etc there is no equalopportunity but mired in racial discrimination.. This is contrary toarticle 8 (equality before the law) of the Federal Constitution.

14. DISCRIMINATION IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR
The economy is controlled by the ethnic Chinese minority. TheGovernment has "forced" the Chinese to "accept" average Malay (but notIndians Muslims) into the top levels of the business and corporatesectors. Only the cream of the ethnic minority Indians (about 1%) makeit good in the private sector

15. NO SKILLS TRAINING
Access to even the lowest level skills training Institutions aredeprived for this community resulting in most of them remainingunemployed or unskilled workers. Even at the NTS Arumugam Pillaiskills training Institute which was build on funds derived from thenow dissolved of South Indian Labour Fund, not even a single ethnicMalaysian Indian student was admitted in the first intake.

16. HINDU TEMPLE DEMOLISHMENTS
Malaysia is about the one and only country in the world where oneHindu temple / shrine is unlawfully broken down by the stateauthorities in every three weeks contravening article 11 (freedom ofreligion) of the Federal Constitution and Sections 295,296, 298A, 411of the Penal Code. The emergency ordinance (outdated by about 40years) is often used to legalise their actions. There have beenreported cases of policemen torching temples, motolov cocktails throwninto temples by policemen and state authorities or they are simplyburnt down or bulldozed down or forced to relocate next to seweragetanks.

17. EMERGENCE OF A NEW ETHNIC MALAYSIAN INDIAN CRIMINAL CLASS.
Over the last 25 years a new ethnic Malaysian Indian criminal classhas emerged as a result of the aforesaid years of directdiscrimination, oppression and suppression. High incidences of crime,violence, slashings and killings largely among themselves take placeeven over the most mundane issues and / or is poverty related.

18. VICTIMISATION BY POLICE /STATE
Studies have revealed that Indians form about 60% of suspects shotdead by the police including an 8-month pregnant Indian lady, 60 % ofinnocent people dying in police custody, 60% of suspects / detaineesin police lockups and other detention centres. Latest update, MalayMail, October 3rd 2005 at page 4, 4 ethnic Malaysian Indian men (meresuspects) were shot dead by the police in one day and in one incident.There was zero outcry from the "Malaysian civil society" as opposed tothe London underground suspected bomber who was shot dead and gettingworldwide attention and the Prime Minister of the UK apologizingdespite being a country at war (Malay Mail, October 3rd, 2005 at page3) and "Senior cop to be charged" New Straits Times, October 9th 2005at page 29.

19. KG.MEDAN GENOCIDE
The genocide by a state sponsored mysterious mob against the innocentand unarmed people of Kg Medan in 2001 left 100 over killed and / orseriously injured still remains a mystery. The Malaysian Human RightsCommission refused to hold an inquiry while the State refused to holda royal commission of inquiry. The courts / Attorney General refusedto hold Inquests into the deaths contrary to Article 5 of the FederalConstitution and section 339 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Worststill only USD526.00 to a maximum of USD6, 578 for some victims beingpermanently maimed and / or loss of life cases was awarded for thesaid victims though RM136.8 billion was approved for the 2006 budget(The Star Online, Friday, September 30th, 2005)

20. NO EFFECTIVE LEGAL AID
Out of the aforesaid 60% suspected ethnic Indian criminals, almost 95%of them plead guilty when they may not necessarily be guilty. Most ofthe crimes they commit (if any) are poverty related. They cannotafford legal fees and neither is there an effective legal aid system.They spend long prison sentences and come out of prisons to be morehardened criminals and potential terrorists.

21. MAJORITARIAN RULE THROUGH THE CIVIL SERVICE, POLICE AND ARMEDFORCES
About 97% of the Civil Servants, police and armed forces personnel areform the majority Malay Muslims. This "force" is used to rule by"majoritarian might" at the expense and violations of fundamentalHuman Rights and victimization of this ethnic minority MalaysianIndians.

22. NO INDEPENDENT MEDIA
The local print and electronic media gives this community the lowestpriority though they suffer the most serious discrimination,victimisation and violations of human rights. The local media tooplays to the gallery and almost often highlighting "majoritarianissues"/ issues which carries mileage. The International media prefersIran, Africa, Katrina terrorist etc.

23. INDIAN PROFESSIONALS AND BUSINESSMEN UNABLE TO HELP VERY MUCH
Unlike the economically powerful Chinese community who are able tohelp their lower middle income and poor directly or indirectly throughtheir self sustaining community, the Indian Professionals andbusinessmen are unable to help very much.

24. UNDOCUMENTED ETHINC MINORITY MALAYSIAN INDIANS
Despite 48 years of Independence, there are thousands of ethnicminority Malaysian Indians left being undocumented, without birthcertificates, identity cards, marriage certificates etc. This ineffect precludes and excludes them from even the formal primaryschooling structure what more obtaining licences to run a business orfrom securing employment. (c/f almost all aboriginal people in theremotest areas Malaysia are documented)

25. ABUSE OF WOMEN AND CHILDREN
Everyday even ethnic minority Indian women and children are notspared. As part of interrogation by the police, an Indian lady wastold to perform oral sex on another male detainee at the Rawang policestation. Her husband was then brought in naked before her and herdaughter. She was then told that her 18 year old daughter would beraped later that night. Another 14 year old ethnic minority Indian boywas arrested from his house and was told to do 150 push ups in policecustody. When he stopped at 20 he was kicked with police boots whichbroke his leg.

26. THE MALAYSIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION AND THE ROYAL COMMISSION ONTHE POLICE REFUSE TO REPORT THE TRUTH
The Malaysian Human Rights Commission and the Royal Commission on thePolice have continuously refused to report even the most seriousviolations of human rights by the state against this community. Forexample the Kg.Medan genocide, shootings to death of suspects, somedeaths in police custody and the gunpoint attack on a human rightslawyer.

27. INDEPENDENT JUDICIARY?
The independence of the judiciary has been put to question in theaforesaid - Kampung Medan genocide for example (and many other publicinterest litigation) when the High Court struck out with costs a civilsuit by a victim bring a class action against the Malaysian HumanRights Commission for failing to hold an Inquiry without even hearingthe merits of the case which the victims believe is because all thevictims were ethnic minority Malaysian Indians and the attacks arebelieved to be state sponsored. Most other such cases against thestate authorities are dismissed in a similar fashion or at the end ofthe trial In the latest public interest litigation to stop the Hindutemple demolishments the UMNO Government has again applied to strikeout the suit without even wanting to reply to the very seriousallegations in amticipation of striking out the said suit ab initio(T.K.O)

28. INDEPENDENT ATTORNEY GENERAL?
The Attorney General has not been independent in many instances wherehe has acted partially in prosecuting lawyers / activists fordefending the rights of this community and / or for failing toinitiate Inquests into custodial deaths / deaths by police shootingsof suspects and / or for failing to prosecute police criminals /authorities and / or for failing to act without fear or favour.

29. GOVERNMENT BODIES / INSTITUTIONS NOT INDEPENDENT
Almost all government institutions including hospitals, police,chemistry registration department etc are biased and in favour of thegovernment and have been known or engaged in "covers up" in favour ofthe authorities and against the people and in particular the ethnicminority Malaysian Indians.

30. LEAST ATTENTION BY THE OPPOSITION PARTIES NGOS' AND CIVIL SOCIETY.
Because this community is politically, economically andinternationally insignificant and where there is not much "mileage" tobe made, and / or no local and / or international funding, even theopposition parties, NGOS' and the Malaysian civil society generallygive this community the least attention and /or prefer to play to thegallery and / or the "majoritarian issues" and / or rather focus onwhere there is local or international "mileage" to be made. In shortthey too are generally "selective" in championing even the worstviolated cases / issues and / or Human Rights issues. (Refer LatestOpen Letter dated 5/9/2005 by 30 Malaysian NGOs campaigning for allissues concerning merely the majority community / internationallyacclaiming issues except the most serious affecting the MalaysianIndians)

31. NO FUNDING FOR NON PRO-GOVERNMENT NGOS
No funding is granted by the Government for almost all non pro-government NGO's with which they would be a million times moreeffective.

32. FEAR FACTOR
This community as a result of the years of oppression and suppressionand the factors herein above mentioned has turned out to be a fearriddled community. They are fearful to stand up for even the worstform of violations, victimization, discrimination and human rightsabuses against them. The fatal factor is that they even get the leastsupport from even NGOs, Opposition parties and the "Malaysian CivilSociety".

33. ALARMING HIGHEST SUICIDE RATE AMONG INDIANS
Having very little or no equal opportunities and/or no upward mobilityopportunities the Indians end up having the highest suicide rate inthe country because of primarily poverty or poverty related matters,(or and to a lesser extent) loss of loved ones for example, divorce,etc. Health Minister Datuk Chua Soi Lek stated ,"for Indians, 21.1persons for every 100,000 suicides, chinese 8.6 persons for every100,000 suicides and for Malays 2.6 persons for every 100,000suicides

(Sadatul Nahir And Rosli, Utusan Malaysia 12/9/2005).
ADVOCATE P. WAYTHA MOORTHYPRESIDENT, HINDU RIGHTS ACTION FORCE (MALAYSIA)