Malay PM asks Indians to renounce extremism

Kuala Lumpur, Oct. 26: Malaysia’s leader urged the country’s minority ethnic Indians on Sunday to renounce "extremist groups" that he said threaten national unity.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi’s comments, in which he also promised to address complaints of discrimination, came three days after the police arrested a dozen members of a banned ethnic Indian rights group.

Indians are the smallest of Malaysia’s major ethnic groups, accounting for 8 per cent of the country’s 27 million people, and are typically at the bottom rung of Malaysia’s social ladder. Muslim Malays account for 60 per cent and ethnic Chinese 25 per cent. In a message marking the Hindu celebration of Diwali, or Deepavali as it is known here, Mr Badawi called for unity and understanding among Malaysia’s three main ethnic groups.

"In the spirit of Deepavali, with the understanding that goodwill always prevails, Malaysians must remain together and not allow extremist groups and individuals to cause tensions to rise," he said.

He did not name any particular group, but his comments followed anger at October’s banning of the Hindu Rights Action Force, or Hindraf, an activist group that shot to prominence in November 2007 when it led tens of thousands of Indians in a rare street protest.

The police quelled 2007’s protest with tear gas and mass arrests.

—AP