Its been more than one year since the HINDRAF 5 was arrested under the ISA on December 13th 2007.

A forum was held on that day of the anniversary at the Bar Council auditorium. The heart-touching report can be read here. I reproduce two paragraphs:

Next to speak was Mrs. Puvaneswary, the wife of V. Ganabatirau. She related the experience of herself and her 2 children in the year since her husband’s arrest and detention.Her older child kept asking daily where Papa was, while her younger child was unable to recognise her father since she was very young when Ganabatirau was arrested.She maintained that her husband had done nothing wrong, and so should never have been arrested. She thanked members of the Bar, especially those who had been helping very closely, for their assistance. She had had to rent out half of her husband’s office space in order to make ends meet.  She added that clients had also been very understanding.

The Master of Ceremonies for the event, Malaysian Bar Treasurer George Varghese, then read out a letter from Dr. Kalaivani, the proud wife of R. Kengadharan. She apologised for not being present in person due to her once-a-week visit to her husband in Kamunting. She too hihlighted the cost to her parents-in-law and her young son of her husband’s detention, and spoke of the nightmare which evolved on 13 December 2007. Their 2 and ½ year old son’s first word was Papa but now he spoke it very rarely. At every family visit to Kamunting, their son has to be reminded to hug and kiss Papa Their home environment was lifeless, empty and lonely. She thanked Prabhakaran, her brother-in-law, who toiled each day and most nights to keep Kengadharan’s law firm going, as well as to some members of the Malaysian Bar who helped him along, and also clients who continued their support. She was glad that the issue of the ISA was now being addressed by many individuals, groups and parties including the Malaysian Bar, and hoped that this struggle and the call for the immediate release of the Hindraf 5 would continue. She hoped and prayed that the suffering would end as soon as possible.

To commemorate the anniversary as well, Makkal Sakthi organised a fast from December 13th till 16th.

According to Malaysiakini, the banned movement’s coordinator S Jayathas told reporters that the hunger strike – to be participated by about a dozen of people – will last as long as it takes to make the government listen. He said the strike was not suggested by Hindraf leaders but a voluntary move on the part of the supporters. These people want to see some changes and they have come forward, and will carry on doing so until the government listens to the plight of the minority Indians, he said.

However, the fast ended four days during which one of the participants was admitted to hospital due to diabetes complications. It was held in Maha Kaliamman temple in Gombak, after the organisers failed to get a prime location:

The strike was initially planned to take place in Shah Alam but the organisers failed to secure the location.

Waytha Nayagi explained that they had also approached over 30 temples in the vicinity of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor but were denied permission.

They were afraid and some of them were threatened by the police, when they (temples) face demolition, makkal sakthi (people power) is always there, that’s the irony of this, you see, she added.

Following the fast, Makkal Sakthi is now planning to submit memo to Malay rulers throughout the country to seek their intervention. First up was the ruler of Negeri Sembilan (who passed away yesterday). Obviously the ruler did not even send anyone to collect the memorandum when 200 people converged at the palace on 21st December.

According the movement’s coordinator S Jayathas, the petition was instead given to a police officer as the authorities had ordered all those gathered at the palace gate to disperse.

We were surprised with the heavy police presence at the palace, they gave us five minute to disperse and we left peacefully, he added.

What we want to tell them (the rulers) is that the Malaysian Indians have never questioned the prerogative of the rulers and we want them to look at the continued marginalisation of the Malaysian Indians, said Jayathas.

We hope through this, the issues of marginalisation would be addressed by the government as the rulers can exert some influence, he said.

The day after the anniversary of the ISA detention, ISA detainee Uthayakumar revealed (via a message delivered by his 14-year old nephew V Pirassad) that he would take full responsibility for the events which led to the detention of his fellow lawyer brothers. Uthaya said that he will take complete responsibility for the 18-point demands the group had submitted to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi in the administration capital Putrajaya in August last year.

I stand by those demands made and urge the government to release my fellow lawyer brothers who merely acted in helping me and my brother (Hindu Rights Action Force chairperson) P Waythamoorthy in various matters in court.

The three lawyers have suffered in prison for a year and there are no valid reasons for the government to hold them and they should be immediately released, said lawyer and Hindraf’s legal adviser Uthayakumar in his brief statement to the 250-strong crowd who had gathered at the PAS hall.

Uthaya also reaffirmed his commitment and stand:

I’ve resolved to struggle for the rights of Malaysian Indians. The Umno government has cheated Malaysian Indians for more than 51 years and this has to come to an end, he said.

Uthayakumar also pointed out that it was crucial for the minority Indians to be united and speak in a single voice.

With this single voice we should continue to push forward and I urge all of you to be prepared for a higher task of not only demanding our rights from this government but to also make yourselves available to serve the community in a positive way, Uthayakumar added.

As 2008 comes to a close, Uthayakumar urged Malaysians to dedicated themselves to serving the community in the new year.

I urge all of you to come forward to join us in our next agenda to serve the public, he said.

In his speech, he clearly mentioned the next course of action for Makkal Sakthi – serving the public. Let’s see how this evolves.

The speech was made during a Makkal Sakthi organised forum on anti-ISA held in Klang. During this forum, there was a commotion due the Vasanthakumar’s photo not present in the banner:

While Gobind was delivering his speech to the crowd, a small commotion erupted at the sideline of the forum where three people who claimed to be Hindraf supporters protested over a banner depicting the movement’s leaders.

It was learnt that the supporters were not satisfied with the organisers as the banner showed only four detained Hindraf leaders together with a photo of the outlawed organisation’s self-exile chairperson P Waythamoorthy.

Where’s the other photo of the Hindraf 5? It should be five rather than four,” they said furiously, referring to the group’s organising secretary and ISA detainee, Vasanthakumar, whose photo was not on the banner.

The argument with the organisers lasted for about five minutes, which some claimed the three outraged supporters were planted to sabotage the event.

It was later revealed to Malaysiakini by one of the organisers that Vasanthakumar’s wife has requested not to have her husband’s photo on the banner or she would sue us.

Later, Vasanthakumar’s wife denied that she said she would sue anyone. The non-inclusion of Vasanthakumar seems to indicate a rift in the strategy. Its widely believed that Vasanthakumar is going for more low-profile steps so that he can be released from ISA.

The review of the HINDRAF 5 was will be held on last this Friday. With rumours saying that three of them may be released, dovetailing Uthaya’s message (and his letter to the review board) that his will bear full responsibility, and Vasanthakumar’s disassociation from Makkal Sakthi events, it will be a much awaited review. Would some of them be released?

Habeas Corpus application by Uthayakumar to be released from ISA due to medical neglect reason have been rejected by the KL High Court. According to the judge, Justice Suraya Othman:

…the claim by the applicant that he was denied proper medication, treatment and proper diet by the Taiping Hospital and officials of the Kamunting detention camp was not true and without merit.

She said the respondents, the Home Ministry and the camp officials through numerous affidavits had stated that all complaints by Uthayakumar were throughly investigated, diagnosed and proper medications were prescribed by doctors at the hospital.

Secondly, the judge noted that vegetarian diet was provided as recommended by a dietician:

According to Bernama, Suraya said the affidavits also revealed that even the camp officials prepared a suitable vegetarian diet for Uthayakumar, who was diabetic, after being recommended by a dietician.

The NST wrote that:

In the application filed on May 22, Uthayakumar claimed he was denied his medication for diabetes between mid-February and April 6.

Prior to that, Uthayakumar, 46, was taking the medicine that was given to him by his fiancee, S. Indradevi, 36, when she visited him at the Kamunting camp.

Uthayakumar also claimed that he had been denied the diabetic diet he requested. Instead, he was given rice and curry which was sweet.

Suraya said Uthayakumar and another detainee, lawyer R. Kengadharan, had scheduled a meeting with a dietician, but Uthayakumar refused to go at the last minute, while Kengadharan kept the appointment.

The dietician prescribed a diet plan for Uthayakumar which was similar to Kengadharan’s despite him not turning up.

“The court is satisfied that all which could be done within the confines of the law was done by the doctor, dietician and prison wardens to assist Uthayakumar,” she said.

She then highlighted that Uthaya changed his appeal from IJN to overseas treatment citing that local doctors will be subjected to manipulation and pressure from authorities.This she says is alarming and insult to the doctors.

She said in his initial notice of motion on May 22 this year filed via Messrs Edwin Lim & Suren, Uthayakumar, besides seeking his release from ISA detention, or in the alternative (second order) to be admitted to the National Heart Institute (IJN) immediately to seek treatment for his diabetes and heart condition.

However, in his affidavit on July 30, he decided not to seek treatment at IJN and wanted the court to substitute the order to allow him to seek overseas treatment from a medical practitioner of his own choice.

Suraya said the applicant in the affidavit had claimed that he had absolute right to choose medical treatment since local doctors would be subjected to manipulation and pressure from the authorities.

Suraya said the court found the reason given by Uthayakumar to be very alarming since he alleged that he could not trust doctors at the government hospitals and IJN.

“He had alleged that these doctors were incompetent, where the court believes this is an insult to their professionalism.”

She said even Dr GR Letchumanan of Taiping Hospital acceded to Uthayakumar’s request to be sent to IJN immediately although the doctor did not feel his (Uthayakumar) condition merited to be referred to IJN.

“Despite two appointments being made to allow him to be seen by two prominent heart specialists at IJN, the applicant, in the eleventh hour, changed his mind and refused to attend.

“This court feels the sudden change in mind by the applicant showed that he was not serious in seeking medical treatment at IJN,” added Suraya.

No independent medical reports? Wonder why Uthaya’s lawyers never asked for independent medical examination. Or was it rejected?

As reported in Malaysiakini, Uthayakumar had refused to attend a rehabilitation programme organised by the police special branch on July 10. According to Waytha, Uthaya refused under the provisos of Article 95 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners which states that prisoners without charge are not subject to rehabilitation.

Uthayakumar’s detention is in violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948 of which Malaysia is a signatory.

(It) specifically provides that there shall be no detention without trial, provides the right to personal liberty and fair trial and that a person is innocent until proven guilty.

According to Hindraf’s lawyer, N Surendran:

Any attempt to compel him (Uthayakumar) would be illegal, unlawful and in breach of all international laws.

If they dare to force him, we will be forced to take the matter to court.

Asked if Uthayakumar’s refusal would impede the efforts to secure his release, Surendran said the former, who is a lawyer himself, was
willing to face the repercussions.

Our conditions are that he must be released unconditionally which means that he must not be obligated to attend any rehabilitation or anything of the sort.

Obviously, this means a longer stay in ISA. But I wonder why news that the other four rejected such rehabilitation did not appear. Were they not subjected to these programmes or did they agree to attend it (bearing in mind that Uthaya is the only one without a wife and kids)?