The delegates from Malaysia at the 9th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas distributed copies of ‘Malaysian Indian Minority and Human Rights Violations : Annual Report-2010’. The report compiled by Hindraf Makkal Sakthi in collaboration with Human Rights Party, Malaysia and edited by Barrister-at-Law, Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy reveal the marginalization of 450,000 stateless Indian diaspora. The suffering of Indians began with the introduction of the New Economic Policy (NEP) in 1971 which gave an upperhand to the ethnic Malays (Bumiputra) in employment, business and other walks of life. The NEP was the result of the 1969 inter-racial riots which shook the peninsula.

Since the independence of Malaysia in 1957 the Barisan Nasional Coalition led by United Malays National Organisation UMNO) ruled the country and pursued policies detrimental to the Indians. Though Malaysian Indian Congress is the partner in the ruling coalition they have done little to elevate the suffering of the Indians in Malaysia. After March 2008 election, the coalition of opposition parties – Pakatan Rakyat – came to power in four states of the country and the situation there is no better for Malaysian Indians, according to the report.

The report described UMNO as a racist and extremist organization. Indians in Malaysia are denied equality and equal opportunities in direct contravention and violation of Articles 8 and 12 of the Malasian Federal Constitution. About 70% of the Malaysian Indians live in poverty and are marginalized and denied of very basic and elementary needs and minority and basic human rights. Forced marginalization has led to the involvement of Indian youths in crime.

The reports contains clippings from different Malaysian newspapers like News Straits Times, Tamil Nesan, Berita Harian, The Star, Malaysiakini, Sinar Harian, Nation, Harian Tamil Makkal. It also contains some relevant portions of the United States Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices in Malaysia. The USSD Report 2009, published on March 11, 2010 said : “The government continued to detain without trial five leaders of an ethnic Indian civil rights group. The civil courts continued to allow the Shari’a (Islamic law) courts to exercise jurisdiction in cases involving families that included non-Muslims………….Longstanding government policies gave preferences to ethnic Malays in many areas. Some employers exploited through forced labour migrant workers and ethnic Indian Malaysians. Some child labour occurred in plantations.”

The report has also complied relevant extracts from Amnesty International and Centre for Policy Studies. The Human Rights Watch World Report observed : “Hopes that Malaysia’s human rights climate would improve following elections in March 2008 proved unfounded……National Front leaders continue to insist that Malaysia’s multiethnic society is too fragile to sustain genuine freedom of assembly and expression or full due process rights for all suspects. The government continues to use outdated repressive laws and regulations to silence its critics and extend its rule.”

Jane’s Sentinel, Country Risk Assessments of Malaysia observed ; “Although a largely pro-Western, fully-fledged parliamentary democracy, Malaysia is often regarded as a `soft authoritarian‘ state, which has attempted to differentiate itself from liberal democracies in the West. There is little independence in national media, the arts are heavily censored in line with the country’s Islamic policies, and a draconian law from the colonial era – the Internal Security Act (ISA) – has been used widely to suppress opposition parties and politicians. Many questions have been raised about the independence of the judiciary.”

Further Jane’s Sentinel report said ; “There have also been ethnic tensions between the Malays and the Indian minority, particularly in 2006 when local authorities demolished many Hindu temples they claimed were built without permission.”

Apart from demolition of Hindu temples, the Malaysian Indian Minority and Human Rights Violations : Annual Report-2010 talks about forceful eviction of the 200-year old Tamil Hindu Village – Kg Buah Pala.