Uthayakumar to fight on alone
Written by Chua Sue-Ann, The Edge
Hindu Rights Action Force’s (Hindraf) legal adviser P Uthayakumar on March 7 declared that his newly formed Human Rights Party (HRP) has “no choice” but to take their battles into their own hands instead of relying on the Pakatan Rakyat (PR) coalition.
“We have announced that the Human Rights Party will go on our own. We are here to fight our own battles. We have no choice… We are not with Pakatan Rakyat or Barisan Nasional. We are on our own,” said Uthayakumar, who is HRP’s pro tem secretary-general.
Uthayakumar launched the HRP in July, 2009 to champion the rights of marginalised groups, particularly that of the Indian community.
He played a key role in leading Hindraf’s mammoth rally in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25, 2007 to protest against the federal government’s alleged marginalisation of Indians, and had spent over a year under Internal Security Act (ISA) detention with four other Hindraf leaders.
Speaking to reporters after a short demonstration in front of PKR’s headquarters here on March 7, Uthayakumar reiterated that the HRP was eyeing about 15 parliamentary seats and 38 state seats to contest in the next general election.
He named several “Indian-majority” seats the party was targetting, including the Batu Kawan state seat in Penang, Teluk Kemang parliamentary seat in Negri Sembilan, Padang Serai parliamentary seat in Kedah as well as the Seri Andalas state seat in Selangor.
To questions, Uthayakumar said there was no issue of “splitting” the Indian votes and repeatedly maintained that “the people will decide”, without elaborating on his strategy. If HRP does not receive its registration as a political party before the next general election, its candidates would stand as independents, Uthayakumar said.
Uthayakumar on March 7 led a demonstration by about 100 people, claiming to be residents of PJS1 near Old Klang Road in Kuala Lumpur, to submit a memorandum to Selangor Menteri Besar Tan Sri Abdul Khalid Ibrahim and Pakatan Rakyat leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim.
According to the memorandum, the residents were demanding land for the relocation of a Hindu temple currently located in the area.
Uthayakumar also slammed Anwar, Khalid and other PR leaders, for their purported “unwillingness” to meet him to discuss Indian community issues.
However, Anwar, Khalid and other PR leaders were attending Selangor PR’s convention in Shah Alam on March 7.
“PR has completely disappointed everyone. They say they are multiracial but in practice, there is no multiracialism,” Uthayakumar said, adding that PR must address issues instead of “playing wayang kulit” and “pushing it” to exco members of Indian descent.
Met later, Uthayakumar’s former comrades in the Hindraf movement and fellow ISA detainees, K Vasanthakumar and V Ganabatirau ticked off Uthayakumar for protesting against PKR on March 7.
Vasanthakumar urged Uthayakumar to refrain from “playing gutter politics” and questioned whether the latter truly represented the Indian community as claimed.
Ganabatirau added that Uthayakumar’s protest against PKR on March 7 was a “cheap publicity stunt” to “create the impression of chaos” against the embattled party which has lost three members of parliament in the last few weeks.
“The spirit of Hindraf is there. We believe our goals can only be achieved through Pakatan Rakyat,” Ganabatirau said.
