PUTRAJAYA (May 8, 2009): The government yesterday announced it will release in the next few days three leaders of the outlawed Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) protest group along with 10 others who had been held without trial, just a day after over 60 people were arrested in anti-government protests.
The trio are Hindraf advisor P. Uthayakumar, K. Vasantha and M. Manoharan, who was elected Kota Alam Shah assemblyman in last year's general election when he was under detention. They had been trying to seek freedom through the courts, without any success.
The others are Zulkepli Marzuki, Jeknal Adil and Admi Pindatun; two Indonesian nationals Zainun Rasyid and Aboud Ghafar Shahril, and five Filipinos Sufian Salih, Hasim Talib, Abdul Jamal Azahari, Yusof Mohd Salam and Husin Alih.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference here: "They will be released within the next two or three days as soon as the documentation process is completed. For the foreign nationals, they will be freed after we have sorted out the repatriation process with Manila and Jakarta."
He declined to say if the foreigners were from Jemaah Islamiyah, a pan-Asian radical Islamic group linked to al Qaeda and which was responsible for a number of attacks across Southeast Asia, including the 2002 Bali bombings.
The move to free the 13 allows Malaysia to say it no longer has any political prisoners held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows imprisonment without trial, although political analysts said there was a raft of other laws such as sedition which have been used to clamp down on dissent.
"ISA and the review of other statutes is in the works, so it is not business as usual," said Hishammuddin.
Other non-political prisoners such as drugs smugglers are still held under the ISA.
Hindraf is fighting for an end to what it calls discrimination against Malaysians of Indian descent and made headlines with a massive street demonstration in November 2007, and has since been banned by the government and its leaders were arrested. Its top leader P. Waythamoorthy still lives in exile in London.
Answering queries from the media, Hishammuddin said Manoharan's release had nothing to do with the Kota Alam Shah's intention to vacate the seat.
"None at all... on the contrary, we found that all of them are no longer a threat to the country," he said.
A statement distributed to the media by Manoharan's wife, S. Pushpaneela on May 2, said Manoharan was thinking of vacating the seat.
This is the second batch of ISA detainees released by the government since Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak became the prime minister last month.
Najib announced the release of the first batch of detainees, also comprising 13 people, when delivering his maiden speech as the prime minister on the night of April 3.
Two Hindraf leaders V. Ganabatirau and R. Kengadharan were among the 13 detainees released in the first batch.
On another matter, Hishammuddin said all 69 people arrested for participating in a gathering in front of the Perak Darul Ridzuan Building yesterday, had been freed on bail.
Political analysts linked the releases to the arrests on Thursday, which although done in the name of public order, had invited criticisms from some non-governmental organisations pushing for human liberties.
Reuters reported that heightened political risks have hit Malaysian assets and concerns over the Perak tensions spreading prompted investment bank HSBC to warn that both economic and political factors would weigh on the ringgit currency.
"This highlights that despite the smooth handover of power to PM Najib Razak, who has announced some surprisingly progressive policies, the underlying political rift dividing the nation remains," the bank said in a report published on Friday.
agencies
09/05/09
The trio are Hindraf advisor P. Uthayakumar, K. Vasantha and M. Manoharan, who was elected Kota Alam Shah assemblyman in last year's general election when he was under detention. They had been trying to seek freedom through the courts, without any success.
The others are Zulkepli Marzuki, Jeknal Adil and Admi Pindatun; two Indonesian nationals Zainun Rasyid and Aboud Ghafar Shahril, and five Filipinos Sufian Salih, Hasim Talib, Abdul Jamal Azahari, Yusof Mohd Salam and Husin Alih.
Home Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein told a news conference here: "They will be released within the next two or three days as soon as the documentation process is completed. For the foreign nationals, they will be freed after we have sorted out the repatriation process with Manila and Jakarta."
He declined to say if the foreigners were from Jemaah Islamiyah, a pan-Asian radical Islamic group linked to al Qaeda and which was responsible for a number of attacks across Southeast Asia, including the 2002 Bali bombings.
The move to free the 13 allows Malaysia to say it no longer has any political prisoners held under the Internal Security Act (ISA), which allows imprisonment without trial, although political analysts said there was a raft of other laws such as sedition which have been used to clamp down on dissent.
"ISA and the review of other statutes is in the works, so it is not business as usual," said Hishammuddin.
Other non-political prisoners such as drugs smugglers are still held under the ISA.
Hindraf is fighting for an end to what it calls discrimination against Malaysians of Indian descent and made headlines with a massive street demonstration in November 2007, and has since been banned by the government and its leaders were arrested. Its top leader P. Waythamoorthy still lives in exile in London.
Answering queries from the media, Hishammuddin said Manoharan's release had nothing to do with the Kota Alam Shah's intention to vacate the seat.
"None at all... on the contrary, we found that all of them are no longer a threat to the country," he said.
A statement distributed to the media by Manoharan's wife, S. Pushpaneela on May 2, said Manoharan was thinking of vacating the seat.
This is the second batch of ISA detainees released by the government since Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak became the prime minister last month.
Najib announced the release of the first batch of detainees, also comprising 13 people, when delivering his maiden speech as the prime minister on the night of April 3.
Two Hindraf leaders V. Ganabatirau and R. Kengadharan were among the 13 detainees released in the first batch.
On another matter, Hishammuddin said all 69 people arrested for participating in a gathering in front of the Perak Darul Ridzuan Building yesterday, had been freed on bail.
Political analysts linked the releases to the arrests on Thursday, which although done in the name of public order, had invited criticisms from some non-governmental organisations pushing for human liberties.
Reuters reported that heightened political risks have hit Malaysian assets and concerns over the Perak tensions spreading prompted investment bank HSBC to warn that both economic and political factors would weigh on the ringgit currency.
"This highlights that despite the smooth handover of power to PM Najib Razak, who has announced some surprisingly progressive policies, the underlying political rift dividing the nation remains," the bank said in a report published on Friday.
agencies
09/05/09
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