By SEAN YOONG
Associated Press
Malaysia's prime minister urged ethnic Indians Saturday to shun a protest aimed at airing their economic grievances, saying its planners were suspected of encouraging people to rebel.
The Hindu Rights Action Force, an influential nongovernment group, wants thousands of people to demonstrate outside the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to highlight how Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority has remained largely poor under both British colonial rule and the present government dominated by Malay Muslims.
Authorities have declared the rally illegal and stepped up security amid concerns of potential violence.
Three ethnic Indian activists were arrested and charged in court with sedition Friday, but Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied that it was because they were the key organizers of the rally.
"They are deemed to have gone against the Sedition Act and we had to take action," Abdullah told Malaysian reporters in Uganda, where he was attending the Commonwealth summit.
"We are not drumming up charges against them," the national news agency, Bernama, quoted Abdullah as saying. "For some time now, these three people have been getting carried away saying things that are against the law."
Police have obtained an unprecedented court order forbidding the public from rallying outside the British High Commission, and warned that protesters could be arrested on sight.
The rally is meant to support a US$4 trillion (�2.7 trillion) lawsuit filed in London in August, demanding that Britain compensate Malaysian Indians for bringing their ancestors here as "indentured laborers" and exploiting them.
Ethnic Indians, mainly Hindus, form about 8 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people. Activists claim that more than two-thirds of them live in poverty, partly because they are deprived of opportunities due to affirmative action policies that favor the ethnic Malay Muslim majority.
Government authorities have rejected allegations of unfair discrimination.
Abdullah said people should avoid the protest because "street demonstrations are not the way."
"We're not a nation where the people cannot voice their grievances, but it has to be done in the proper way," he said.
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy, the rally's chief organizer, pledged that the protest would proceed.
"This is a poor people's struggle," Waytha Moorthy said late Friday.
The planned rally would be the second protest in Kuala Lumpur this month. Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse activists Nov. 10 at an opposition-backed rally that drew thousands of people demanding electoral reforms.
Associated Press
Malaysia's prime minister urged ethnic Indians Saturday to shun a protest aimed at airing their economic grievances, saying its planners were suspected of encouraging people to rebel.
The Hindu Rights Action Force, an influential nongovernment group, wants thousands of people to demonstrate outside the British High Commission in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to highlight how Malaysia's ethnic Indian minority has remained largely poor under both British colonial rule and the present government dominated by Malay Muslims.
Authorities have declared the rally illegal and stepped up security amid concerns of potential violence.
Three ethnic Indian activists were arrested and charged in court with sedition Friday, but Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi denied that it was because they were the key organizers of the rally.
"They are deemed to have gone against the Sedition Act and we had to take action," Abdullah told Malaysian reporters in Uganda, where he was attending the Commonwealth summit.
"We are not drumming up charges against them," the national news agency, Bernama, quoted Abdullah as saying. "For some time now, these three people have been getting carried away saying things that are against the law."
Police have obtained an unprecedented court order forbidding the public from rallying outside the British High Commission, and warned that protesters could be arrested on sight.
The rally is meant to support a US$4 trillion (�2.7 trillion) lawsuit filed in London in August, demanding that Britain compensate Malaysian Indians for bringing their ancestors here as "indentured laborers" and exploiting them.
Ethnic Indians, mainly Hindus, form about 8 percent of Malaysia's 27 million people. Activists claim that more than two-thirds of them live in poverty, partly because they are deprived of opportunities due to affirmative action policies that favor the ethnic Malay Muslim majority.
Government authorities have rejected allegations of unfair discrimination.
Abdullah said people should avoid the protest because "street demonstrations are not the way."
"We're not a nation where the people cannot voice their grievances, but it has to be done in the proper way," he said.
Waytha Moorthy Ponnusamy, the rally's chief organizer, pledged that the protest would proceed.
"This is a poor people's struggle," Waytha Moorthy said late Friday.
The planned rally would be the second protest in Kuala Lumpur this month. Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse activists Nov. 10 at an opposition-backed rally that drew thousands of people demanding electoral reforms.
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