‘Hindraf banned due to extreme approach’

Kuala Lumpur, Oct. 23: Malaysian government’s recent ban on ‘Hindraf’, a Hindu rights group spearheading a campaign against the alleged marginalisation of ethnic Indians, came because the organisation took "a very extreme" approach to propagate its ideology, a top minister said here on Thursday.

The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) had organised 17 forums and 338 street demonstrations, home minister Syed Hamid Albar said. "We took a long time before taking action because we don’t want them to think that because it is a society that seems to speak for a certain race or religion, that we took action.

"We took action because we considered that they have taken a very extreme approach to propagate their ideology," Mr Syed Hamid told Star newspaper’s online edition. Mr Syed Hamid said on legitimate issues, nobody could quarrel with Hindraf, but "we are taking action because we consider the way it has gone about doing things — promoting extremism," the minister said referring to the ban on Hindraf.

The group came to prominence worldwide after its leaders organised a massive rally here on November 25, 2007 to demand more rights for the minority ethnic Indian community.

—PTI