Monday, January 14, 2008

FUND ABUSE? Something new.....What happened to links to terrorist groups...

Well, what do you know - now they have got one of the the five arrested to go and allege that Uthayakumar mis-used the funds....

This is ISA and the Malaysian police is good - for after all when the Arqam leaders were arrested, it did not take very long for all Malaysians to see these persons confessing on television that they had deviated from the true path.

In the case of Dr Syed Husin Ali who was detained for about six years, he was asked to admit that he was associated with the Communist Party of Malaysia and to implicate Dr Mahathir Mohammad, the Prime Minister of Malaysia. The Home Minister at that time was Tan Sri Ghazali Shafie.


‘They wanted me to use the communist bogey on Mahathir and Musa [the then Deputy Prime Minister] ... they told me that I would be released if I implicated Mahathir and Musa. They slapped me, denied me sleep, spat in my face, told lies about my wife and even placed a pistol in front of me. It was a terrible lie and being a Muslim, I would not be part of it’[3].

(see in this Charles Hector Blog, the article "Detention Without Trial Laws in Malaysia")

If it is true that this
Vasanthakumar made such a report - then the Malaysian police must be congratulated for succeeding in causing divisions between these 5 leaders of HINDRAF.

HINDRAF and its November rally that saw about 30,000 Malaysian, predominantly Indians, coming out to protest discrimination has really caused worry not just to the Barisan Nasional government - but also to other "self-proclaimed representatives and/or leaders of Malaysian Indians" like the MIC, etc...

Like UMNO and MCA, the MIC has failed the people they claimed to have represented - for after all the gap between the rich and the poor in Malaysia is one of the highest in South East Asia...and also ASIA. I believe that our PM, his immediate family and possible also the leaders of MCA, MIC, etc may actually be within the the top 10% that is richer by 22 times the bottom 10% poor Malaysians.

That is the issue - that should be the main focus - not any other things like alleged links to terrorist organizations, sexual escapades of leaders, alleged financial hanky-panky of some leaders of Hindraf, etc ...

After all the government's main object seemed to have been to stifle its own people's protests and voices including those who came forward during HINDRAF rally (30,000), BERSIH rally (40,000), Malaysian Lawyers - and let's not forget that the ISA was used for that very reason and 5 Hindraf leaders were arrested.

In any event, even if this Uthayakumar is guilty of mishandling funds, it matters not to the ISSUES that have been highlighted by HINDRAF.

I call again for the immediate release of Manoharan, Uthayakumar...all the 5 and others currently detained under the ISA and other laws that allow for detention without trial. I call for the immediate repeal of all laws that allow for Detention Without Trial.


Police report against Uthaya over fund abuse
Syed Jaymal Zahiid | Jan 14, 08 4:08pm

A police report has been lodged against Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) legal adviser P Uthayakumar by the movement’s secretary T Vasanthakumar over allegations of misuse of funds.

Both Uthayakumar (left) and Vasanthakumar are being detained under the Internal Security Act along with three other Hindraf legal advisers at the Kamunting detention centre in Perak.

It is learnt that, in the police report which was lodged at the detention centre on Thursday, Vasanthakumar has accused Uthayakumar of allegedly misusing money collected from the public for Hindraf activities.

Uthayakumar’s lawyer N Surendran, when contacted, said that the police report and accusation thrown against his client should not be taken seriously.

“Vasanthakumar (photo) had lodged the police report under detention and given the circumstances, his accusations cannot be taken seriously as it has no credentials or credibility,” he said by phone.

Explaining, Surendran said that “Vasanthakumar could have been manipulated by the authorities to lodge the police report after being subjected to severe stress”.

Part of the government conspiracy

Surendran also associated Vasanthakumar’s accusations with previous government efforts to discredit Hindraf through similar claims.

“As we all know, Hindraf has been accused by the Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Musa Hasan of collecting funds from the public to supposedly finance activities of a terrorist organisation abroad," he said.

“And yet he has not come out with any evidence to support his claim. I believe this is a clear effort by the authorities to discredit and weaken the support for Hindraf."

The IGP on Dec 6 last year had accused Hindraf of soliciting support and financial aid from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a Sri Lankan Tamil fundementalist terrorist organisation.

Uthayakumar in retaliation had filed a RM100 million defamation lawsuit two weeks ago against the IGP, the Attorney-General and the government for allegedly misleading the public by linking him and Hindraf with LTTE.

“So, as you can see, the accusations are centered on allegations of fund embezzlement. They cannot support their claim that Hindraf is linked with LTTE, they try to bring us down through another accusation,” said Surendran.

Hindraf halts donation drive

On a related development, Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy - currently lobbying global support for the movement from his temporary base in London - said in a statement today that Hindraf’s name is being misused by individuals to collect funds from the people.

He said that large sums of funds were collected in Hindraf’s name by these unauthorised persons and that these funds were not channeled to Hindraf.

“In these circumstances we urge all supporters and well wishers of Hindraf to immediately suspend collection of funds from members of the public either privately or publicly pending further instructions,” he said.

“In the interim we urge all well wishers and supporters to continue to offer prayers nationwide for the immediate release of the ISA detainees."

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