Hindraf chief stopped from leaving the country

Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leader P Waythamoorthy was barred from leaving the country this evening on grounds that he is a national threat.

"The immigration officers informed me that a restriction has been imposed on me by the Immigration Department director-general and the inspector-general of police.

"The reason given from both sides is that I am a threat to national security," Waythamoorthy said when contacted by Malaysiakini.

He said he was to take a 6.30pm flight to Cebu in the Philippines for a business trip and is now stranded at the Low-Cost Carrier Terminal (LCCT) in Sepang.

"The government has cheated me. They issued me with a perfectly good passport on July 30 and then, two months later, I am not allowed to go out of the country.

"When I came into the country, I was not a security threat, but two months later I have suddenly become a security threat," he said.

Waythamoorthy said he would lodge a police report against Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein and the inspector-general of police for falsely accusing him of being a security threat.

He will also lodge a report against the director-general of immigration for acting beyond his powers.

"They have basically made me a prisoner in my own country. It is a breach of international convention and laws that stipulate you cannot prevent a citizen from leaving his country without cause," Waythamoorthy said.

The restriction would also throw a spanner into his plan to meet with his lawyers in London this weekend for Hindraf's case against the British government, he added.

The Malaysia High Commission in Singapore had on July 30 grantedWaythamoorthy a passport for his return to Malaysia after his self-imposed exile in the UK since 2007.

The Hindraf leader was allowed to enter the country on Aug 1, without any restriction imposed.