17 - Hindraf as a Response to Islamization in Malaysia

Summary

The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) of Malaysia was formed on 29 December 2005 when 29 Indian NGOs met in Kuala Lumpur in response to the “body snatching” case of the Everest climber Moorthy (Uthayakumar 2010, p. 53). The Moorthy case was one of the several incidences involved in the controversy of religious conversions in Malaysia. It was believed that M.Moorthy, an army corporal in the Malaysian armed forces, who had gained recognition as one of the Mount Everest climbers for Malaysia, had converted to Islam without the knowledge of his family before dying. The Selangor Islamic Religious Department authorities “snatched” his dead body for burial according to Muslim rites from his wife Kaliammal and family who were unaware of his conversion to Islam and claimed that he was a practising Hindu. The family sought legal redress, but the Syariah Court ruled that he was a Muslim whereas the High Court said it had no jurisdiction over the matter (Malaysiakini, 13 January 2006). The founders of the Hindraf found the court rulings of both the Syariah and the High Court to be a violation of non-Muslim minority rights. The Moorthy case was simply a catalyst to the founding of Hindraf in a series of occurrences that include the demolition of Hindu temples and the fact that Indians in Malaysia are commonly perceived as a backward class of people due to limited access to opportunities within a social political system that favours privileges for the majority Malay– Muslim population.

The Hindraf was to gain national and international attention when it organized a rally on 25 November 2007 in the heart of Kuala Lumpur, at the Ampang area, in a bid to submit a petition to the Queen of England. In August 2007, Waythamoorthy, one of the leaders of Hindraf, filed a suit against the British government at the Royal Court of Justice, London, for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years (Malaysiakini, 24 November 2007). Furthermore, the suit sought a declaration that the Reid Commission Report 1957 failed to incorporate the rights of the Indian community, resulting in discrimination and marginalization to the present day. The quantum sought was US$4 trillion (RM14 trillion) — or US$2 million for every Indian currently residing in Malaysia.