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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian police on Sunday arrested more than 100 Indian activists as they tried to hold an anti-government rally over alleged discrimination against their ethnic minority.
Members from the Human Rights Party organisation were to have gathered at the iconic Petronas Twin Towers for the "anti-racism rally", but it was aborted after 109 people were held, including the group's leader.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak regards the action by Hindraf members as deliberately creating bad publicity for Malaysia through the international media.
Bernama news agency quoted Najib as saying that the group was actually hoping the police would use force on them so that the Malaysian government would be seen as a brutal and autocratic regime.
"We don't want to use force, but they are hoping we will do so as they want to exploit the situation by painting a bad picture of Malaysia through the international television channels," he said after attending a gathering with Felda Jengka 25 residents in Temerloh on Sunday.
Najib was referring to the incident where Hindraf members were arrested by police for holding a demonstration protesting against the novel "Interlok" at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) grounds.
Multiracial Malaysia was hit by deadly race riots in 1969 and race relations remain often fragile, with religion and language still sensitive issues. The arrests are among the biggest such incidents in recent years.
The 109, including eight women, were picked up at various locations around Kuala Lumpur as they tried to march to the Twin Towers, which had been cordoned off and where at least 10 police trucks and water cannon vehicles were on standby.
Police were also seen telling ethnic Indians, suspected to be demonstrators, to leave the vicinity.
"We are investigating the 109 detainees for participating in an illegal assembly," Kuala Lumpur city police chief Zulkifli Abdullah told AFP.
"We have made it very clear that this rally is illegal and we have repeatedly warned them not to do this but they came, and they attempted to hold a rally so the police had to take action," he said.
S. Indradevi, wife of the group's leader P. Uthayakumar, said her husband was arrested by police in their apartment car park about 90 minutes before the rally was scheduled to start.
"We were just leaving our apartment to go to Twin Towers and we walked into the car park, we saw the police were there already. My husband was handcuffed and was taken to a police station," Indradevi told AFP.
The rally was sparked by anger over the government's refusal to drop a school textbook that contains references to the traditional Hindu caste system which the protesters said were racially insensitive to ethnic Indians.
The government has set up a panel to look into the complaint and said the book would continue to be used but amendments would be made to several aspects considered sensitive by the Indian community.
- AFP/Bernama/wk/de
mi1: Malaysian Police are cowards showing their strengths to disabled
Members from the Human Rights Party organisation were to have gathered at the iconic Petronas Twin Towers for the "anti-racism rally", but it was aborted after 109 people were held, including the group's leader.
Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak regards the action by Hindraf members as deliberately creating bad publicity for Malaysia through the international media.
Bernama news agency quoted Najib as saying that the group was actually hoping the police would use force on them so that the Malaysian government would be seen as a brutal and autocratic regime.
"We don't want to use force, but they are hoping we will do so as they want to exploit the situation by painting a bad picture of Malaysia through the international television channels," he said after attending a gathering with Felda Jengka 25 residents in Temerloh on Sunday.
Najib was referring to the incident where Hindraf members were arrested by police for holding a demonstration protesting against the novel "Interlok" at the Kuala Lumpur City Centre (KLCC) grounds.
Multiracial Malaysia was hit by deadly race riots in 1969 and race relations remain often fragile, with religion and language still sensitive issues. The arrests are among the biggest such incidents in recent years.
The 109, including eight women, were picked up at various locations around Kuala Lumpur as they tried to march to the Twin Towers, which had been cordoned off and where at least 10 police trucks and water cannon vehicles were on standby.
Police were also seen telling ethnic Indians, suspected to be demonstrators, to leave the vicinity.
"We are investigating the 109 detainees for participating in an illegal assembly," Kuala Lumpur city police chief Zulkifli Abdullah told AFP.
"We have made it very clear that this rally is illegal and we have repeatedly warned them not to do this but they came, and they attempted to hold a rally so the police had to take action," he said.
S. Indradevi, wife of the group's leader P. Uthayakumar, said her husband was arrested by police in their apartment car park about 90 minutes before the rally was scheduled to start.
"We were just leaving our apartment to go to Twin Towers and we walked into the car park, we saw the police were there already. My husband was handcuffed and was taken to a police station," Indradevi told AFP.
The rally was sparked by anger over the government's refusal to drop a school textbook that contains references to the traditional Hindu caste system which the protesters said were racially insensitive to ethnic Indians.
The government has set up a panel to look into the complaint and said the book would continue to be used but amendments would be made to several aspects considered sensitive by the Indian community.
- AFP/Bernama/wk/de
mi1: Malaysian Police are cowards showing their strengths to disabled
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