Indian-Malaysians Seek $6 Trillion in Reparations From Britain
Global News Digest
Electric News
Singapore Press Holding
January 4, 2008
A group calling itself Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) has filed a class action suit against the British government demanding reparation payment of $6 Trillion for Indians in Malaysia for the forcible migration of their forebears, centuries ago, to what was then known as Malaya. Hindraf has also organized a rally to gather support for a petition to the British crown for the appointment of a Queen's Counsel to represent the Indian community in Hindraf's class action suit against the British Government.
Hindraf leader, P Waytha Moorthy, says he is seeking "to find a permanent solution to the plight of all the poor, oppressed and
marginalized Indians, who are permanently colonized in their 'own country'."
Last August, in the tradition of good loyal colonials, Mr. Waytha Moorthy had filed a class action suit in the Royal Courts of Justice in London against the British government, seeking £1 million ($3m) compensation for every Indian in Malaysia. He also wanted an unspecified amount to be put into a fixed deposit account to fund projects for Indians.
He wants the British Government to pay because he says that they are responsible for 'forcibly' bringing many thousands of Indians to Malaya as indentured laborers. British withdrawal from Malaysia, Moorthy alleges, left the mostly Hindu Indians unprotected and exploited in the Malay-Muslim state. The money, Moorthy says, would be compensation for the suffering of their forefathers; for their own suffering and the residual effects on their children.
The 41 years old Mr Moorthy, was a relatively obscure Malaysian lawyer before founding Hindraf and launching his campaign. He had been expecting about 10,000 people to attend his rally but soon revised that estimate upward by 90 percent to 100,000 people for the November 2007 rally.
Mr. Moorthy and Hindraf have their many critics. The Malaysian government has downplayed the importance of Hindraf activities. The nation's police chief, Tan Sri Musa Hassan, urged the public not to attend the rally saying the group had no permit for such a gathering. He warned of "stern action" against
organizers and attendees. The secretary-general of the Malaysian Indian Congress (MIC), Datuk S Veerasingam, threatened action against MIC members who attend the Hindraf rally, which said was politically motivated.
But Mr. Moorthy calls himself a "human rights activist" working for the Indian community and not aligned to any political party. He accuses the government of Malaysia of trying to prevent the suit from being heard so as not to highlight the plight of Indians in Malaysia.
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