About a week after resigning as senator and deputy minister, Persatuan Hindraf Malaysia (PHM) chairperson P Waythamoorthy made his first public appearance, during which he called Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak a liar who has betrayed the Indian Malaysian community.

At a 20-minute press conference, Waythamoorthy called on Najib to step down as prime minister for his open act of betrayal.

"In doing this, he (Najib) committed an act of betrayal in historical terms to the entire Indian people," he said.

"This will not be forgotten for generations to come. This story will be told over and over."

Appearing haggard and exhausted, he refused to take questions from journalists who had packed the function room at Brickfields, and left in a hurry after making his statement.

Last Monday, Waythamoorthy had tendered his resignation, eight months after he signing a controversial memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the BN, just days before the 13th general election held on May 5 last year.

He then went on to call upon the Indians to vote for BN, and after GE13 he was appointed as a senator and a deputy minister, supposedly to take charge of Indian affairs.

However, his vocal championing of causes, such as deaths in custody, prompted calls for him to resign, from Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar and Defence Minister Hishammuddin Hussein, among others.

'Disheartening decision'

Commenting on the resignation, Najib described Waythamoorthy's decision as disheartening and opined that they should have talked about it.
 
To this, Waythamoorthy said Najib had further lied to all Malaysians as they had held several discussions.
 
“Over the last eight months, I had at least 16 meetings with the prime minister at his office in Putrajaya," Waythamoorthy explained.
 
“In each of these meetings, I kept pushing for the naming of the new unit that he promised I was to head, as well as for the budget that was agreed to.”
 
He further lambasted Najib as a weak leader who “does not have the political will to make decisions and press his civil servants to implement what was agreed on”.
 
Waythamoorthy also said that BN component parties should be ashamed to be led by a leader who openly lied and deceived the public on a written contract he had made in public to the Indian Malaysian community.