Pakatan 'yes' to Hindraf blueprint on Indian issues

Pakatan Rakyat will early next month sign its acceptance of Hindu Rights Action Front's (Hindraf ) proposed five-year blueprint for the resolution of problems faced by the Indian Malaysian community, says Hindraf leader P Waythamoorthy.

"In principle, they (Pakatan parties) said they agree with and support (our blueprint), but we want them to sign the document.

"They agreed to sign it in the first week of January," Waythamoorthy (left) told Malaysiakini after officiating at Hindraf's World Human Rights Day celebration at the Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur last night.

He said Pakatan supremo Anwar Ibrahim will put his signature on the blueprint after they resolve some minor issues in it.

After this is done, he added, Hindraf would consider mobilising participants for the Pakatan-backed "people's uprising rally" in Kuala Lumpur next month.

Hindraf had previously announced that any political party thatendorses its blueprint for the progress of the Indian community would enjoy its support in the next general election.

The blueprint highlights six major problems of Indian Malaysians that Hindraf wants resolved within the next five years.

‘Not at stage of fielding candidates'

However, Waythamoorthy added that Hindraf "has not reach the stage" of fielding candidates in the coming general election.

Some 50 people attended the celebration around the water fountain at Dataran Mederka, which started at 8pm.

The orange-clothed crowd held placards bearing lines from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which also urged the Malaysian government to implement and respect the declaration.

Among the cries made in the placards were "No slavery", "The right to trial" and "Don't discriminate".

Some of the Hindraf leaders also made brief speeches during the hour-long event, during which they criticised the government for failing to build a just society.

Some 25 Kuala Lumpur City Hall enforcement officers and police officers stood by in the vicinity, but they did not take any action against the crowd.

The gathering dispersed peacefully at 9pm, after the crowd sang the Hindraf anthem "Tholvi nilayane ninaithal" (Failure isn't permanent).