2007 HINDRAF rally
The rally organiser, the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF), had called the protest over alleged discriminatory policies which favour ethnic Malays.
The rally started when a crowd estimated to be between 5,000 and 30,000 people gathered outside the Petronas Twin Towers at midnight, early Sunday morning.
[4][5] On 21 April 2006, the Malaimel Sri Selva Kaliamman Temple in Kuala Lumpur was destroyed by the City Hall authorities because of violation of construction laws.
On 11 May 2006, armed city hall officers from Kuala Lumpur forcefully demolished part of a 60-year-old suburban temple that serves more than 1000 Hindus.
Moreover, the demolition of the Seri Maha Mariamman Temple in Padang Jawa, Shah Alam just a few days before Deepavali which is most important Hindu festival of lights in 2007.
As the leader of Hindu delegation in the committee, he enquired with the National Security Council representatives at the meeting whether the surau or the proposed site for the RM5million new mosque in the Angkasapuri compound was open for the staff only or the public as well.
The Hindu Rights Action Force or HINDRAF, a coalition of several NGO's, have protested these demolitions by lodging complaints with the Prime Minister of Malaysia but with no response.
Without government aid it was considered a gergantuan task, and plea was made to low wages, loss of jobs and homes due to the fragmentation exercise.
[13] On 1974 MIC Bluebook, spearheaded by the MIC President V. Manickavasagam, contained key proposals which included increase of Indian share capital, ownership and control achievement of racial balance in public employment, offer of Indian who were restricted under the Employment Act 1968 and abolish the Contract Labour System, allotment of new housing and Introduction of a systematic academic scheme for Tamil schools are recommended under the Aziz Commission Report.
The situation was found to worsen when rubber plantation were bought over through Permodalan Nasional Berhad(PNB), a Malay trust agency.
However, contemporary Indian civil society is generally divided due to differences in ideology.The class-based approach taken by community groups such as Alaigal and JERIT have successfully mobilized the Indian Tamil Plantation labour to seek their legal rights against unlawful eviction from homes and to obtain adequate and fair compensation for retrenchment from plantation jobs.
[16] The urban Indian middle class had lost confidence in the political elites of the MIC who was seen as having a weak bargaining clout within the communal Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition.
Indian civil society had viewed the incident as a mob attack against the Malaysian Human Rights Commission for falling to hold an inquiry on the matter.
[22] The lawsuit is not only claiming 4 trillion British Pounds as compensation, it is also seeking to strike out Article 153 of the Malaysian Constitution which acknowledges the special position of Malays and the legitimate rights of other races, but is often seen as endorsement of Malay Supremacy and for the court to declare that Malaysia is a secular state and not an Islamic state[23] as declared by former Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad who is partly Indian himself.
[28][29][30] The police roadblocks started the week before the rally to create massive traffic jams across the city and the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
[31] The Malaysian Opposition leader Lim Kit Siang of the DAP pointed out that this high-handed act by the police was unnecessary as it caused major inconvenience to everyone.
[32] On the morning of the rally, about twenty thousand people gathered near the Petronas Twin Towers, a symbol of modern Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, carrying life-size portraits of Elizabeth II and Mahatma Gandhi, to indicate the nonviolent nature of their protest.
