The government has implicitly admitted error on its part, says Hindraf advisor Ganesan.
PETALING
JAYA: Hindraf Makkal Sakthi has asked the Attorney-General Abdul Gani
Patail to drop charges against 54 Hindraf activists who participated in a
rally last year to demand the withdrawal of the controversial novel
Interlok from schools.
Hindraf advisor N Ganesan said the government, in removing the novel
from the SPM reading list last December, had implicitly admitted that
the rally was justified.
Ganesan was at the head of a Hindraf delegation that went to Gani’s
office this morning to submit a memorandum calling for a withdrawal of
the charges against the 54.
Hindraf is also seeking an apology from the government for the arrest and prosecution of the activists.
The 54 had participated in a rally billed as a “Solidarity March
Against Umno Racism and Interlok” on Feb 27 last year. They have been
charged under the Police Act for participating in an unlawful assembly
and the Societies Act over their membership in an unregistered
organisation.
Hindraf was one of many organisations that opposed the use of
Interlok as a literature text in school. They allege that the novel,
written by national laureate Abdullah Hussain, contains derogatory
references to the Indian community and factual errors about their
culture.
Referring to the eventual withdrawal of the novel from schools,
Ganesan said in a press statement: “This act of the government is an
implicit admission of error on their part, in their decision and
intentions.
“It validates the purpose of the opposition to the inclusion of this
book in the first place by human rights defenders and supporters of
Hindraf Makkal Sakthi.”
He added that prosecuting the 54 activists was an act that
contradicted the right to assemble peacefully as stated in Article 10 of
the Federal Constitution.
Pointing out that the government did not prosecute participants in
last year’s Bersih rally, Ganesan said this showed that it was targeting
the Indian community.
By continuing with “this selective prosecution,” he said, the
government was indicating to the world that it did not respect the right
of ethnic minorities to enjoy guarantees provided by the Federal
Constitution and that it would not abide by the United Nations
Declaration on Human Rights when it came to minorities.
“So, what we have is not just a violation of the fundamental rights
guaranteed in the Federal Constitution and in the UN Declaration on
Human Rights; we also have a serious breach of the rights of minorities
in the country.”
No comments:
Post a Comment