BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY
Parliamentary Wing
Press Statement

New Delhi – 6 December 2007

The Bharatiya Janata Party strongly condemns the Malaysian government’s policy of subjecting the country’s Hindu community in particular, and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) in general, to discrimination, injustice and persecution.

The BJP urges the UPA government to take up this matter with the Malaysian government at the highest level and with the seriousness it deserves. The Government of India should demand an immediate reversal of this anti-Hindu and anti-PIO policy, which runs counter to the obligation of all nations in the world to protect well-established and universally recognized human rights of all human beings, especially those belonging to minority communities.

Shri P. Waytha Moorthy, Chairman of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) in Malaysia , today called on Shri L.K. Advani, Leader of the Opposition (Lok Sabha), Shri Jaswant Singh, Leader of the Opposition (Rajya Sabha) and other senior leaders of the BJP, and apprised them of the plight of the “forgotten”, “marginalized” and “persecuted” Hindu community in his country. Some of the specific details given by him were as follows.

1. About 10,000 Hindu temples have been demolished in Malaysia since its independence fifty years ago. Most of these existed from the British colonial days and were as old as 150 years. “Hindus are stripped of their dignity and self-respect by this act” by the vindictive manner in which their temples have been razed to the ground.
2. There has been a steady attempt to “Islamise” Malaysia ’s multi-faith population (in which Muslims constitute 55%). The Shariah Court ’s rulings are being made binding on non-Muslims, especially in matters of inter-faith marriages and the religious identity of children.
3. Nearly 70% of the PIO population in Malaysia , which has been living in that country for over 200 years, remain manual labourers, living on daily wages. This underclass remains oppressed and suppressed, with the government making no special budgetary provision for their economic and educational advancement.
4. The number of Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam schools has dwindled drastically, even though the population has increased manifold. The government’s neglect of the educational needs of the Indian community is deliberate, since the authorities want to cut off the PIOs’ cultural and spiritual heritage.

Shri Waytha Moorthy, who is a leading lawyer, also shared information about the Mayasian government’s repressive crackdown of the peaceful, legitimate and democratic protests by the Hindus. He underscored the fact that the Hindus in Malaysia have always been loyal, law-abiding and peaceful citizens. Three lawyers involved in taking up the cases of HINDRAF and its supporters have been charged with sedition for speaking the truth. Thirty-one participants in the recent massive protest rally organized by HINDRAF have been falsely charged with murder under a law that denies them bail. “All this is being done to instill fear among the Hindus, so that they will not come out again to protest,” Shri Moorthy said.

The BJP believes that India has a moral obligation to take up the case of injustice and persecution of Malaysian Hindus and PIOs with the authorities in Kuala Lumpur . The UPA government cannot shirk from this responsibility either out of its commitment to anti-Hindu pseudo-secularism or under the pretext that this is an internal matter of Malaysia.

Singapore ’s elder statesman and former Prime Minister, Mr. Lee Kuan Yew, who now holds the position Minister Mentor, today called on Shri L.K. Advani at his residence. The two leaders had discussions on wide-ranging issues, in which the persecution of PIOs in Malaysia also figured. Mr. Lee Kuan Yew not only fully shared Shri Advaniji’s appraisal of, and concerns over, the situation, but also said, “Discrimination on religious grounds in Malaysia affects not merely the Hindus. All the non-Muslim communities in Malaysia – Buddhists, Taoists and Christians – are getting worried.”

Enclosure: Copy of HINDRAF’s memorandum to Shri L.K. Advani