Arrest of Hindraf Group

I received a text messages last night on the arrest of Hindraf supporters and was very disturbed by it. I made a few calls to verify the story. This is not something we need right now.

According to STAR, twelve people, including a six-year-old child, “representing Hindraf” were arrested outside the Prime Minister’s Office at Putrajaya yesterday. One of the three women picked up was K.Shanti, wife of Hindraf chairman P.Wathyamoorthy and the child is believed to be his daughter, Vwaishhnavi.

I am sure the police have the legal justification to make the arrest. However, I can’t comprehend the wisdom or rather the lack thereof, in making the arrest. I doubt if Hindraf supporters posed a security threat to the Prime Minister. We are not sure if the police were ‘provoked’ to make the arrest but in any event a softer approach in dispersing the supporters would have been commendable.

I was relieved to find out later that at least K.Shanti and Vwaishhnavi were subsequently released. Ten others were detained. It was reported that the supporters claimed that they came in their “individual capacity and not under the banner of Hindraf”.

Be that as it may, there are few questions that need to be answered.

In the first place, was there a real and urgent need to arrest the supporters? Wouldn’t a softer approach suffice under the present situation? The arrest would only further fuel the anger of Indian Community towards the government. Secondly, what is the need to arrest the women, even more so, the child Vwaishhnavi?

The government should not be surprised by the unconventional method used by Hindraf supporters. What do you expect from family members and supporters of those that are detained without trial? Had the government not resorted to detention without trial under ISA, those gathered at Putrajaya would not have had the moral platform to ‘appeal’ to the Prime Minister directly.

On the other side of the coin, there are also a few questions that need to be answered by those gathered at Putrajaya.

Why on earth do you need to “deliver their Deepavali wishes” to a man that does not celebrate it? Wasn’t enough damage done to their own cause by delivering “Hari Raya Wishes” at PWTC a few weeks ago? Please, the PM wasn’t even home. He is in China right now.

Why drag a six year old child into all these? Yes, the sight of a six year old will tug everyone’s heart string but hasn’t this sentiment been used once too often? What about the emotional scars that might haunt the girl when she grows up? We do not know for sure whether it will, but shouldn’t the girl be spared the pain when there is doubt?

And whose idea was it to say that they came “in their individual capacity?” The authorities are not THAT stupid! Yeah, now they have arrested everyone to verify if they came under Hindraf or under their individual capacity.

And who gets blamed for all this? MIC of course!

HAPPY DEEPAVALI!

Murugesan Sinnandavar