27/11: KL dailies denounce 'disruptive' Hindu rally

Media plays up injured policemen, saying violence harms racial accord

The Straits Times



HIGH SPIRITS: Hindraf leaders (from left) V. Ganapathy Rao, P. Uthayakumar and P. Waytha Moorthy being lifted and cheered by their supporters after being freed from a KL court yesterday. -- PHOTO: AFP

MALAYSIAN newspapers yesterday criticised the mass rally by Indians as an unruly and violent show of defiance that damaged racial relations in the country.

Photographs of injured policemen were carried in the major dailies to underscore their condemnation.

The media took the government's position that the protest disrupted business activities, with an editorial in the New Straits Times (NST) saying it was 'unnecessary' and a setback for racial harmony.

'The rally did turn ugly, as predicted, and both policemen and demonstrators suffered injuries,' the NST editorial said.

'The normally busy weekend hang-out of Ampang saw shops shuttered; even the KLCC, which barely has walking room on weekends, was emptied, with many shops on the first two floors hanging 'closed' signs on their doors, shop assistants nervously standing inside,' it added.

Malaysia's Indian community staged its biggest anti-government street protest on Sunday when thousands of demonstrators defied tear gas and water cannons to hit out against what they perceived as racial discrimination.

The rally, which went ahead despite police warnings against it, was organised by an NGO, the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf).

Hindraf said the aim was to hand over a petition to the British High Commission in support of a lawsuit seeking about US$2 million (S$2.9 million) in compensation for each of the two million Malaysian Indians whose ancestors were brought to the country as indentured labourers by Britain about 150 years ago.

The Indians also wanted to air their grievances on issues such as lack of educational and business opportunities, Hindraf leaders said.

For six hours from dawn, riot police fought running battles with more than 5,000 Hindu protesters gathered at various places of the rally route.

Yesterday, three Hindraf leaders were brought to court on charges of sedition but the case was dropped due to a technicality.

The international media, including the Kuala Lumpur- based Al-Jazeera English news network, had focused on the Indian grievances that led to the mass gathering.

But the local media zoomed in on the 'defiance' of the protesters.

The front-page headlines of the two biggest Bahasa newspapers, Utusan Malaysia and Berita Harian, said the demonstration was 'violent'.

The local media also made much of the fact that four policeman were injured during the run-in with the protesters.

Among them was sub-inspector Chew Choon Peng, whose published photo showed him with a bleeding head, while other policemen had their heads bandaged.

The Star, the biggest English-language newspaper, said demonstrators 'broke' into the Batu Caves temple - one of the holiest Hindu shrines in Malaysia - and 'destroyed' temple property.

Police said the protesters also torched a tourist bus and shattered the windscreens of passing vehicles by throwing stones and bricks.

Chinese dailies portrayed the protesters as unruly, and showed pictures of injured policemen, broken car windscreens and damaged public property. The mass-selling Sin Chew Daily quoted Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi as saying the rally disrupted business activities here.