Hindraf offers to help Mat Sabu with historical documents

London-based Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy says he has documents in hand to prove the communists were the freedom fighters.

GEORGE TOWN: PAS deputy president Mohamad Sabu has been offered help from an unlikely source – Hindraf Makkal Sakti.

London-based Hindraf chairman P Waythamoorthy said he is prepared to provide documented evidence to Mat Sabu to defend himself against the criminal defamation charge.

Waythamoorthy said he had documents to prove that the communists were actually Malayan independence freedom fighters, who first fought against the Japanese and later against the colonial British masters.

He claimed that he has in his possession declassified documents obtained from various sources to prove that the colonial British government had actually armed the communists to engage in an armed conflict with the Japanese during World War II.

After the Japanese Occupation had ended and before Malayan independence, he said the colonial government had turned against the communists and banned the Communist Party of Malaya (CPM).

This, he said, forced the CPM leaders and members to go underground and launch an independence war against the British.

“We have declassified documents to prove these pre-independence historical facts,” Waythamoorthy told FMT.

Mat Sabu was charged in Butterworth Sessions Court yesterday with criminal defamation under Section 500 of the Penal Code.

He pleaded not guilty and claimed trial before Judge Ikhmal Hishan Mohd Tajuddin.

He was released on a RM15,000 bail with one surety. The matter will be mentioned on Oct 27 while hearing has been fixed from Dec 5 to 9.

Gesture of friendship

When asked the reason for Hindraf to help out Mat Sabu, Waythamoorthy said Hindraf had always been on the path of truth and justice.

“PAS and (other) Pakatan Rakyat (allies) were never our enemies. But it is they who failed to see our gesture of friendship.

“Over the past 54 years, Umno has always distorted and erased history. It’s time for people to know the truth,” Waythamoorthy said.

However, he raised a question over the admissibility of such documents, which are still under the Official Secrets Act, in Malaysian courts.

“Although the documents were declassified by the UK government, they are still classified and kept as government secrets in Malaysia.

“It will be interesting to see whether the Malaysian government would have the guts to allow these historical documents to be tendered as court evidence during Mat Sabu’s trial,” he said.

Under the principal charge, Mat Sabu was accused of defaming several police personnel and their families, who defended the Bukit Kepong police station on Feb 23, 1950, from a communiust attack led by Mat Indera.

In the alternate charge under the same law, the police personnel were named as Konstabel Marin Abu Bakar Daud, Konstabel Jaafar Hassan, Konstabel Yusoff Rono, and their families.

Mat Sabu was alleged to have committed the offence during his speech at Pusat Asuhan Tadika Islam Al-Fahmi Markas Tarbiyah PAS in Tasek Gelugor, Penang, between 10pm and 12 midnight on Aug 21, 2011.

The charge carries a jail sentence of up to two years, a fine or both upon conviction.

Waythamoorthy said he also has documents to prove that the colonial British government had groomed pro-Western Umno leaders such as first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman, his successor Abdul Razak Hussein and Umno founder Onn Jaafar to take over the independent Malayan government.

He noted that the British colonial masters wanted Umno, and no one else, to take over an independent Malayan government to protect its economic interests.

At the time, the British colonial government had almost 80 percent stake of the Malayan economic pie.