A child accompanied by adults wanted to personally deliver an invitation card to the Prime Minister. The invitation was for the child’s Deepavali open house. Obviously you won’t get to see the PM, but one of the staff will surely take the invitation on behalf of him. Sounds routine and normal right? Well, guess again. The girl is HINDRAF’s Waytha’s daughther, and accompanying her were “concerned indians”. You know the drill, “arrest everyone” order is issued. Before we proceed, look at the invitation card content sent by Waytha:

Dear Mr. PM,
On the 27th October 2008 Hindus in malaysia would be celebrating Deepavali-a festival to mark victory over evil.
This celebration does not mean anything to us so long as my Lawyer uncles are in prison,uncle RPK and all others are in prison under ISA.
Please release them as Divali Gift for all Malaysians.
Happy deepavali.Please visit my house for Deepavali. I will wait for you with Flowers and cakes.

Your loving daughter

Vwaishnnavi (signed)
6 years old

More than just an invitation, its also a request (appeal?) to release ISA detainees (including the girl’s uncle Uthaya), I guess sending appeals on ISA will get you arrested as well.

Malaysiakini reported that the reason for the arrest was to investigate the group as HINDRAF has been outlawed. Obviously the people who went to send the card would not be wearing anything associated with HINDRAF. So, its all based on suspicion only. I mean, the coordinator for HINDRAF would have attended, but he may claim to represent not Hindraf, but himself only. Or maybe another organisation.  If those arrested play their cards right, the police won’t have any proof – because the word “Hindraf” was not tied to the gathering today. Its a case of everyone knows, but no proof. Only solution – detention under ISA.

According to Jayathas (who was also arrested):

Police Watch Malaysia coordinator S Jayathas, who was also held, claimed that they had been told that they were part of an illegal assembly for having gathered near the entrance of the building.

“We were trying to obtain permission from the security guards for Vwaishhnnavi to submit her letter. They said that we were from Hindraf, but we insisted that we were concerned Indians who were accompanying Vwaishnnavi,” Jayathas when contacted.

According to the Star, the group — led by Hindraf national event coordinator R. Kannan — had told reporters waiting at the guardhouse they were at the office to “deliver their Deepavali wish” and that they were here as “individuals and not as the group Hindraf.”

They also had with them a copy of the letter from the United Kingdom Border Agency, which they had shown at a press conference in Parliament on Wednesday, as well as a memorandum calling for the release of their five leaders from detention under the Internal Security Act. However, when they tried to enter the office to hand over the memorandum, they were stopped by security guards who told them to wait. After about 15 minutes, police arrested them in front of reporters. There was no untoward incident at the scene and the group was calm. When contacted at about 5pm on Thursday, Kannan said the police had yet to inform them which section they were being arrested under.

They are currently at the Putrajaya district police headquarters, but police chief Abd Razak Abd Majid declined comment when contacted.

Kuala Lumpur police chief Muhammad Sabtu Osman confirmed the arrest of eight men and three women during the incident. He clarified that Vwaishhnnavi has not been arrested and is in her mother’s care.

He also said the 11 are being investigated under the Societies Act. (The Home Ministry had imposed a ban on Hindraf on Oct 15, declaring it an illegal grouping.)

The girl’s mother Ms Shanti was also arrested, and the girl taken along so that mother and child are not separated:

Contacted on her handphone while waiting for police to record her statement, Shanti said the group had attempted to submit a handwritten letter calling on Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi to release all those detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) .

“The appeal letter (in Vwaishhnnavi’s handwriting) asked the prime minister to release her uncle, (and other Hindraf leaders as well as) RPK (blogger Raja Petra Kamaruddin, among other ISA detainees,” said Shanti.

“She said that Deepavali would not mean anything to her and all Malaysians, if they are not released.”

Shanti said the letter also included a invitation for Abdullah to attend the family’s ‘open house’ in conjunction with Deepavali.

“(Vwaishhnnavi) wrote that she would be waiting with flowers and cakes,” she added.

Waytha, meanwhile, was outraged over the arrest:

Contacted in London by phone, Waythamoorthy expressed outrage that his daughter, wife and supporters had been picked up by police.

“It’s ridiculous to arrest [sic] a child who has come to deliver a Deepavali card and a letter to the PM asking him to release all ISA detainees,” said an obviously incensed Waythamoorthy

“This only shows that the PM is not telling the truth when he said he is a PM for everyone. He is not!”

Those arrested are: Taramaraju, S.Jayathas, Capt(R) Bala, Kanan, Ravi, Siva,  Sentosa Raja, Nayagi, Shanti, Vwaisshnavi, Shanti.

About 30 concerned Indians (NST said “HINDRAF followers” – not sure how they verified that) are reported to be waiting outside Putrajaya Police Station to get update on those arrested.

They began gathering there at 7pm and were still there at the time the report was filed.

We have to wait for videos to surface to see it is was really and “illegal assembly” or just people queueing to enter the complex.  The group may claim that the are they individually, but the police may say that previous gathering involved the same group of people. Most likely if got a case, they will be charged. Alternatively, maybe some will be “ISA”ed while others released.

Saw the news on TV3 yesterday night. Buletin Utama started by saying “HINDRAF buat kecoh lagi”, but unfortunately, the video clip did not show any negative actions. There were crowd of about 50-60 people who wanted to enter the court room Of course, knowing TV3, you can’t take their news seriously. The news did not mention why people were crowding to enter nor the pre-and post-happenings after the video clip.

Malaysiakini covers it here.

A small commotion in the courtroom preceded today’s hearing when the case was moved to another court, but before the same judge.

Hindraf supporters were unhappy when they were not allowed into the new courtroom. A shouting match ensued between the supporters and the police, with Uthayakumar – wearing a white shirt and tattered blue pants – joining in.

Kapar MP S Manikavasagam was among those shouting, insisting that the police should stop “harrassing the supporters”.

A woman fainted in the ensuing disorder and was taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Surendran claimed she had been “elbowed” by a police officer.

However, the commotion died down after 20 minutes, when more supporters were allowed to enter the courtroom where they sat on the floor.

More than 100 Hindraf supporters – clad in orange T-shirts with slogans like ‘Abolish ISA’, ‘Keep walking’ and ‘Makkal sakthi’ – had gathered at the court complex since early this morning.

The Star covers the “commotion” here:

A commotion broke out at the entrance of the Criminal Sessions Court here when police barred Uthayakumar’s supporters from attending his sedition trial.

Earlier, when the hearing began at the Civil Sessions Court at 9am, the room was packed with 70 well-behaved supporters. How-ever, when the courtroom was changed to the Criminal Sessions Court just before 11am, police prevented the supporters from entering the court and a shouting match ensued.

A police officer had told the supporters that they needed to be registered to enter the courtroom but the latter countered they had the right to enter an open court.

NST said that it was a circus:

It was a circus on the first day of Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P. Uthayakumar’s sedition trial yesterday. A woman fainted in the courtroom after she was allegedly roughed up while a pen was thrown at a police officer’s head.

The commotion began about 11am when proceedings stood down.

The proceedings were supposed to be heard in Civil Sessions 6, but the venue was changed to Sessions 6 Criminal.

Both are on the third floor. About 100 supporters squeezed their way into the courtroom.
As they were waiting for hearing to resume in the second courtroom, Uthayakumar’s counsel, N. Surendran, alleged that a police officer had grabbed a woman by the neck during a scuffle, causing her to faint.

The woman was taken to a room and an ambulance called. She was sent to the Kuala Lumpur Hospital.

Soon after, riled-up supporters began chanting and calling out Uthayakumar’s name.

A police officer tried to calm them down but a pen was thrown at him. The officer remained calm and told them to respect the court.

Uthayakumar, who was in the dock, also tried to calm his supporters. The 47-year-old lawyer, who was wearing a white shirt, torn blue pants and a pair of flip-flops, looked unkempt with his thick beard.

Despite looking like a “vagrant”, he was in a cheery mood.

The case of Uthaya alleged to published a seditious letter to British PM is postponed till next year February.
Photos of the events at the court is over here.