Hindraf founder hammers Dr M at anniversary rally

P Uthayakumar, a founding leader of Hindraf, hammered Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad at the movement's anniversary rally in Brickfields today.

Uthayakumar is now leading Hindraf 2.0 following a split with his brother P Waythamoorthy, who is also a founding leader and operating on the Hindraf platform.

Uthayakumar took aim at Mahathir over what he claimed was Pakatan Harapan's unfulfilled manifesto specific for the Indian community.

"They said they will resolve the issue of stateless Indians within 100 days of coming into power. They also promised to turn all Tamil schools into fully government-assisted schools and other promises in the manifesto for the Indian community.

"They promised to the Indian community before the 14th general election that with a stroke of the pen, Mahathir and the Harapan leadership can solve all these problems.

"The question is, have they solved these problems or are they perpetuating Umno's racist era?" he asked.

Uthayakumar added that the concept of "rule of law" appears to have a different meaning for Mahathir.

"When we talk about the rule of law, it is about complying with the law no matter what. But for him (Mahathir), he does not follow the law.

"He does not mean it. Instead, he says something but does another," he said at the 12-anniversary rally attended by some 100 people.

Acknowledging that the crowd today was much smaller to the tens of thousands who attended in Hindraf rally in 2007, Uthayakumar said the gathering is a token objection to Harapan's unfilled promises for the Indian community.

"Today we have around 100 people here which is only 0.1 percent of the 100,000 people who gathered 12 years ago in Kuala Lumpur on Nov 25, 2007.

"However, we are here today as a token objection against the Harapan government so that they will fulfil the manifesto which they have promised to do," he said.

Uthayakumar's estranged brother Waythamoorthy is presently the Minister in the Prime Minister's Department in charge of unity, Indian and Orang Asli affairs. - Mkini