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Jailed Malaysian activists set to go on hunger strike

Five ethnic Indian activists in Malaysia will go on a hunger strike to protest against their indefinite detention for demanding fair treatment of minority Indians in the Muslim-majority country, a lawyer said yesterday.

The government has accused them of threatening public security and inciting racial hatred in this multiracial nation.

The five leaders of the Hindu Rights Action Force will begin fasting in jail tomorrow, consuming nothing but water for at least five days, said lawyer N. Surendran, who is representing one of the detainees.

"They are going on hunger strike asking to be freed. They feel that their arrest is illegal, unconstitutional, arbitrary and done ... by the government for politically motivated reasons," he said.

Hindraf, a little known group, burst into prominence after organizing a rally on Nov. 25 to highlight what it says is racial discrimination faced by ethnic Indians, who form 8 percent of the country's 27 million people. About 60 percent of the population are Malay Muslims and 25 percent are ethnic Chinese.

In an unprecedented public show of anger and frustration, at least 20,000 ethnic Indians took part in the Nov. 25 rally, which was crushed by police using tear gas and water cannons.

The five Hindraf leaders were detained last month under the Internal Security Act, which allows indefinite detention without trial.

"The government has locked them up mainly because they are strong critics of government policies and because of the mass support they have gained in recent months," Surendran said.

A legal appeal to get them freed is scheduled to be heard on Thursday, lawyers said.

Ethnic Indians, who are mostly descendants of 19th century plantation workers from southern India, complain that the Malay-dominated government practices discriminatory policies in economic and religious matters.
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