Indian-based party Prim today launched a campaign to boycott Astro following the satellite television provider's last-minute canning of a special news report on the situation of Indian Malaysians.

Parti Reformasi Insan Malaysia (Prim) pro-tem secretary general P Uthayakumar said that the party's initial aim is to target at least 10,000 people.

Astro has over a million subscribers and its Tamil-language channel Vaanavil is a hot favourite among Indian Malaysian subscribers

"We are reaching out to these people by various modes of communications. We are sending out faxes and e-mails, and in a day or two will launch a short message service (SMS) campaign as well," he said.

Controversial programme

Uthayakumar said the campaign would run through the Deepavali celebration period which begins on Oct 24.

"We are asking our supporters to stop watching Astro over this period and tune into the terrestrial television stations," he added.

He added that the party would not be responsible for any losses to Astro's advertisers, promoters or sponsors as a result of the campaign.

The controversy began when Astro cancelled a news reports titled 'Indian Underclass?' which was originally slated for broadcast on Sept 28 as a part of the weekly Focus Asia current affairs programme on Star TV.

The satellite TV station said that the report was not aired as it could be "sensitive" to certain viewers. It also denied that the directive came from the government and added that the eleventh-hour decision was made by its internal censors.

Legal advice

Reacting to numerous complaints over this, Astro today responded in a letter to the New Straits Times as saying that the news report was cancelled based on legal advice.

"Astro had received legal advice that the Star World Focus Asia programme scheduled for broadcast at 8pm on Sunday, Sept 28, would have contravened the laws of Malaysia," said a spokesperson for the station.

He added that the programme, commissioned by the Hong Kong-based Star World, will not be shown by Astro in its current form.

The news report focused on the status of Indian Malaysians and raised questions over the community's future.

In the eight-minute clip, which is available on Focus Asia's website, Hong-Kong based journalist Jennifer Lee observed that the community appears to have been left behind by their Malay and Chinese counterparts in getting a fair share of the country's wealth and success.

Among those interviewed for the programme were former estate workers who expressed unhappiness with the discriminatory practices by some employers in the country.

Another interviewee, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) lecturer Prof P Ramasamy said the community was concerned with "institutionalised racism" where affirmative action policies have resulted in the domination of certain sectors by Malay Malaysians.

BN oppression

In the immediate aftermath of Astro's decision, a 'rainbow coalition' of opposition leaders was launched, primarily to highlight the position of the Indian community as an increasingly marginalised group in the country.

The coalition also urged Astro to telecast the programme so that the real situation involving the Indian Malaysian community will be out in the open.

Reacting to Astro's explanation for not airing the controversial programme, Uthayakumar said his party was disappointed that the satellite TV station was not being fair and independent.

"They are helping the ruling Barisan Nasional government to further marginalise the community," he said.

He also targeted his anger and disappointment towards the government for the present gloomy situation of the Indian Malaysian community.

"Forty-six years of political, economic and social oppression, suppression and marginalisation has led to a passive and fear-riddled Indian community," he said.

These, he said, was caused by years of neglect by the government as well as poverty due to various discriminatory policies.

"The government is taking advantage of the Indians because they have no clout," he added.

To back the party's claims, Uthayakumar pointed to the lower intake of Indian Malaysian students to the local universities, the pathetic status of Tamil schools, the ever-shrinking share in the economic pie and the various social problems besetting the Indian Malaysian community.

"It is a frustration of all these that led us to this boycott campaign. We want Astro to realise that it cannot merely do favours to the BN government by further marginalising this community."