Since 1 March 2011, the Malaysian authorities have arrested some 54 members of the Hindu Rights Action Force (HINDRAF) and its sister organisation, the Human Rights Party in what appears to be a widespread campaign of repression and judicial harassment against the organisations and their members.

Further Information

HINDRAF is a grassroots-based human rights advocacy group working on promoting the rights of the Hindu and other marginalised communities in Malaysia.

The 54 individuals, who have all been released on bail, are charged with taking part in an “illegal organisation”, as a result of the authorities' continued refusal to process the organisation's request for registration. Furthermore, the National Secretary of HINDRAF, Mr P Ramesh, was also charged with possession of banners and documents that further the cause of HINDRAF, based on the aforementioned lack of legal recognition granted to the organisation.

HINDRAF was founded in December 2005 in order to lobby for the rights and religious freedoms of minority non-Muslims in Malaysia. In 2006, HINDRAF extended its mandate to include other human rights issues, including in relation to internally displaced and stateless persons, and economic rights.

The organisation submitted its first application for registration in January 2006, although this reportedly went unacknowledged by the Registrar of Societies. They submitted a second application in October 2007, which remains pending.

On 25 November 2007, HINDRAF organised a rally in Kuala Lumpur protesting against the marginalisation of Malaysian Indians in which some 50,000 people reportedly took part. Subsequently, the following month, a number of HINDRAF's members including Mr P Uthayakumar, HINDRAF's Legal Advisor, were arrested under the Internal Security Act, and held without charge for 514 days, accused of having endangered national security through their role in organising the protest and having links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). HINDRAF's Chair, Mr P Waytha Moorthy, who was out of the country at the time, also had his passport revoked by the Malaysian authorities.

In October 2008, erstwhile Home Minister Mr Syed Hamid Albar announced that HINDRAF was banned. However, no Court Order followed or accompanied this announcement and, thus, HINDRAF continued its activities. In order to protect its volunteers, HINDRAF renamed itself “Hindraf Makkal Sakthi” in 2008. Its legal representatives sent a letter of intent to register the organisation under this name on 2 October 2009; however, the Registrar of Societies has not responded to this request.

Following his release from prison, P Uthayakumar founded the Human Rights Party, and submitted the formal application for registration on 25 November 2010, which remains pending.

The most recent arrests relate to HINDRAF's attempt to organise a peaceful anti-racism demonstration on 27 February 2011. The authorities prevented the demonstration from taking place through widespread arrests and detentions as well as other forms of intimidation on the day of the demonstration.

Front Line believes that the continued criminalisation of members of HINDRAF and the Human Rights Party is directly related to their legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights and, furthermore, constitutes a transgression of their rights of free assembly and association as guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.