Hisham's Lies Leave Waytha Fuming

Hindraf chairperson P Waythamoorthy is furious with the continuous lies being perpetuated by the government that he had sought the support of terrorist organisations to back his own movement. The latest false charge by the government came just last week when Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein had informed the Parliament that Waythamoorthy left Malaysia on Nov 28, 2007 to lobby international support and to make efforts to meet leaders of Tamil Tigers. "This is absolutely ridiculous. I challenge the minister to provide proof of this openly, if he has any," Waythamoorthy told Malaysiakini today. He is presently in New Delhi, India and will be back to his base in London later this week. He left Malaysia when the government started its crackdown on Hindraf at the end of 2007. Since then he has been leading the movement from London. "For the government to keep repeating that I have sought the support of terrorist groups is baseless and unfounded. And last week Hishammuddin had said the same based on information apparently obtained from intelligence reports. "I find it strange for the government to keep repeating this same old accusation but without giving any evidence. If they have proof, why not just release it," he asked. He said that that he was ready to return home and urged Hishammuddin to charge him in court with treason over the alleged contacts with Tamil Tigers. Waythamoorthy also urged the Home Ministry to issue him a fresh passport so that he can return to Malaysia. His passport has been revoked by the government and he is presently travelling using a special United Nations travel document which was given after he was granted a political asylum by the British government. Baseless accusation He added that the seeds of Hindraf's links with terrorist organisations, especially with the Tamil Tigers, were first publicly planted by Attorney General Abdul Gani Patail on Dec 5, 2007, and this was further cemented by the Inspector General of Police Musa Hassan on Dec 13, 2007. This was also a justification used to arrest five Hindraf leaders under the Internal Security Act in December 2007. They were released in May this year. Waythamoorthy said that until today no one in the government could back up their claims of the alleged Tamil Tigers link. "Charge me in court on the terrorist links and that will give me an opportunity to prove that this government had no evidence whatsoever," he said. Hindraf became the main public enemy after the movement had highlighted cases of temple demolitions in the country in 2007. The movement's public rallies became hugely popular, emanating in a mass rally in Kuala Lumpur in November 2007 where almost 30,000 people had taken part. After that the government started its crackdown by arresting the main leaders, culminating in the ISA arrests, and during which time Waythamoorthy had left for the UK to continue the movement from there. The government banned Hindraf last October. Hishamuddin's latest response on Waythamoorthy's alleged links with terrorists came in the form of a written answer to PKR's Kapar member of parliament S Manikavasagam.-MalaysiaKini