The Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) should come out to condemn acts of racial profiling by the government and the authorities, said a lobby group.

The Group of Concerned Citizens (GCC), lodging a complaint about an incident in Batu Caves, Selayang, last Sunday, said these acts occurred when:

Almost 100 people were charged in court in connection with the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) rally in Kuala Lumpur; and

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Nazri Abdul Aziz referred to rally participants as penyangak (crooks).

GCC representative M Manohar told Suhakam commissioner Prof Khoo Kay Kim today that the police had been selective in their actions, by remanding and charging Hindraf supporters but not those who attended the Bersih rally two weeks before.

Manohar said he believed this was racially motivated because the Bersih rally participants were mostly Malays, while the those at the Hindraf protest were mainly Indians.

"Suhakam must find out why no one was remanded or charged over the Bersih rally... we believe there is some racial element involved," he said.

More than 40,000 people took part in the Bersih (Coalition for Free and Fair Elections) rally on Nov 10. About 200 people were arrested but have not been charged to date.

During the Hindraf rally in Kuala Lumpur, almost 400 people were arrested and 88 were charged for various offences on Wednesday.

On Nazri's penyangak remark, another GCC representative Charles Santiago told Khoo that such acts were unacceptable and unbecoming of a minister.

"Such sinister attempts at racial profiling of a disadvantaged minority community as 'violent people' speaks volumes of the failure of race-based politics in Malaysia," he said.

He also urged Suhakam to issue a written condemnation of Nazri's remark.

Photo evidence

GCC's complaint letter was officially handed over to Khoo by several of those who said they were affected in the Batu Caves incident.

Their allegations encompassed alleged use of excessive force by the police to disperse the crowd that had gathered there on Sunday morning, several hours ahead of the Hindraf rally in the city centre.

Santiago used a series of photographs to show Khoo how the Federal Reserve Unit (FRU) had fired tear gas and used water cannon against those caught within the temple compound.

One photograph depicted several FRU members inside the compound - the site of one of the holiest Hindu shrines in Malaysia.

Santiago said the FRU had entered the compound and assaulted people, including those who were there to perform prayers in conjunction with the holy festival of Karthikai.

One victim, K Ramesh, said he and his family members had just finished performing their prayers, when the FRU struck.

"They came in and arrested me and my brother. One of them pushed my mother and she fell," he claimed, adding that he was forced to surrender his identity card and it was not given back.

Another eyewitness, G Ashok Kumar (photo), 47, told Khoo that he was with another group in Batu Caves intending to proceed to KLCC for the rally.

He said the police locked the main entrance to the compound at about 4.30am, forcing many in the crowd to sit near the gate.

Ashok said several of them were arrested as they tried to leave the compound, and that some angry people then hurled projectiles at the police.

"After that, they just kept on pumping tear gas inside... (the police said) there was no body contact. That was absolutely rubbish. There was lots of body contact (when people tried to flee)," he said.

Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan has steadfastly maintained that there was "no body contact" between the police and the crowd.

Approached for comments later, Khoo (photo) skirted a question on whether he felt there were human rights violations during the Batu Caves incident.

"From what that has been conveyed, there appears to be a question to be addressed with regard to the interpretation of the law," said Khoo.

The upcoming commission meeting on Dec 10 will decide the next course of action based on complaints in hand.


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