Hindraf’s Uthayakumar fears re-arrest next week

(Suara Keadilan) – Hindraf leader P Uthayakumar may be re-arrested as early as next Tuesday if he does not turn up for a police review of his  release from ISA detention.

His freeing along with two others had been totally unexpected and suddenly announced.

It is  widely believed to be part of a ruse by Prime Minister Najib Razak to mitigate the huge unpopularity incurred by his government over a controversial state assembly sitting in Perak on May 7.

“The government has a very small price to pay, all I want from them is for them to follow the law. If the government can’t follow the law, how can they expect the citizens to abide the law,” Uthaya told a news portal.

A man of principle, Uthaya refuses to attend Tuesday review

Earlier on Friday, the police served a notice on him to attend a review by the Kamunting Detention Centre on May 19. He said the notice indicated the government was thinking of re-arresting him.

The 47-year old lawyer had angered the authorities when he refused to sign their conditional release letter. But to avoid further negative publicity, they proceeded to free him along with the other two Hindraf leaders, M Manoharan and T Vasanthakumar, on May 9.

“When I was released I deemed myself to be free. That is why I insisted that I would remain in detention if I was given conditions to abide by,” Uthaya said.

He was among five Hindraf leaders detained under Malaysia’s notorious Internal Security Act, which allows for indefinite detention without trial.

They were arrested in December 2007 for having organised a mammoth rally the month before to protest the marginalisation of the Indian community.

All of them have been freed, with Uthaya the last to leave the centre. He is determined not to attend Tuesday’s review.

Said his lawyer N Surendran: “Uthayakumar is a free man now. He is not obliged to attend the hearing because he is no longer under their jurisdiction of the Internal Security Act.”