{"id":761,"date":"2007-11-23T08:45:07","date_gmt":"2007-11-23T00:45:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/indian\/2007\/11\/23\/nst-editorial-condemns-hindraf-rally\/"},"modified":"2007-11-23T08:45:07","modified_gmt":"2007-11-23T00:45:07","slug":"nst-editorial-condemns-hindraf-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/indian\/2007\/11\/23\/nst-editorial-condemns-hindraf-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"NST editorial condemns hindraf rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

I think if there was no police, it would have been more peaceful. many people are complaining of roadblocks all over klang valley, which is quite unneccesary. children nearly miss SPM exams, many people turn up late for work. Why have roadblocks two working days before the event? this is not like during Bersih campaign, which the preceding Thursday was Deepavali and many took leave on Friday. Thus, it looks like the police are the one causing distress, not Hindraf, which have a good record of gatherings, unlike political parties like PAS, PKR, UMNO etc. <\/p>\n

Publicity stunt or not, it seems important enough for NST to comment on it. Syabas to Hindraf!<\/p>\n

I don't think its a competition with BERSIH rally since these dates were announced much earlier and one can never predict how many people will turn up eventually. Oh..the editor forgot to mention the Bar Council's march. So, BERSIH followed the lawyers? <\/p>\n

I suppose another pathetic attempt to pull wool over one's eyes.<\/p>\n

Comment by NST editorial.<\/p>\n

Editorial:<\/b><\/font> Call off that rally<\/h5>\n

http:\/\/www.nst.com.my\/Friday\/Columns\/2090881\/Article\/index_html<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

THE law is clear: no police permit, no public assembly. So the non-governmental group Hindu Rights Action Force appears prepared to break the law this weekend, declaring it will proceed with a planned rally at the British High Commission without a permit. <\/p>\n\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ostensibly, the rally is to ask Queen Elizabeth II to appoint lawyers to represent the Indians of Malaysia in a US$4 trillion (RM 28 trillion) suit filed against Her Majesty's Government.<\/p>\n

Already, Hindraf's suit – seeking damages of STG1 million for every Indian in Malaysia for 150 years of oppression – has been consigned to the "Odd News" bin of international coverage. To proceed with the rally this weekend, when the queen will be in Uganda for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, smacks of a publicity stunt. <\/p>\n

Surely, if Hindraf truly believed its claims have merit, it would see the process through the UK courts. Surely if it had genuine grievances, then patience, and some semblance of dignity, is really what is needed. Surely if there was really US$4 trillion in damages at stake, raising funds to cover the legal costs would be a cinch?<\/p>\n

To gather 10,000 people to present a piece of paper in Kuala Lumpur taints the whole enterprise as frivolous. Why hold the rally? Why put thousands before police lines when its own leaders have warned of signs there are groups out to cause trouble?
No doubt that many Indians are not doing well, that an underclass, and not just of Indians, may be forming. No doubt Hindraf has the right to express its opinions in ways that do not break the law. This planned rally comes just two weeks after the Bersih demonstrations, the Pas-dominated show of strength which brought parts of the capital to a standstill, perhaps just to show it could. Civil groups should not be like children who on discovering their first swear word think it's exciting, and cool, to keep using it.<\/p>\n

Malaysia is no dysfunctional state. The machinery of government works, excruciatingly slowly sometimes, but it is serviceable. The political process works, not painlessly but it is viable. It allows for reform and for change, through the ballot box and through dialogue. <\/p>\n

So the country's laws are valid and should be respected – there's no such thing as "being forced" to hold an illegal assembly. Citizens cannot pick and choose which laws they find expedient to obey. <\/p><\/div>\n

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I think if there was no police, it would have been more peaceful. many people are complaining of roadblocks all over klang valley, which is quite unneccesary. children nearly miss SPM exams, many people turn up late for work. Why have roadblocks two working days before the event? this is not like during Bersih campaign, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,21,62,141],"class_list":["post-761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-indian","tag-funds","tag-hindraf","tag-pkr","tag-umno"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=761"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/761\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=761"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/poobalan.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}