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KUALA LUMPUR: Hindu Rights Action Force members did not mean to cause a disturbance by attending Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi's Hari Raya open house on Wednesday, its national coordinator, R.S. Thanenthiran, said.

He said they cherished the open house concept and did not go to the function hosted by the prime minister to cause trouble.

"We're a peace-loving group and only visited the Raya open house in the spirit of forgiving and forgetting in wishing our prime minister Selamat Hari Raya.

"We also took the opportunity to make a plea for the release of our five leaders detained under the Internal Security Act."

Thanenthiran said the group decided to meet Abdullah only after the prime minister's principal private secretary, Datuk Ahmad Yaacob, had invited Vwaishnnavi, the 5-year-old daughter of Hindraf leader in exile, P. Waythamoorthy, to the open house.

He said Vwaishnnavi and Hindraf members had visited the prime minister's office on Sept 22 to hand in a request to attend the open house.

"Datuk Ahmad Yaacob received Vwaishnnavi's request letter and invited her to attend the open house."

Thanenthiran said as Hari Raya was a time for forgiving and forgetting they had thought it would be the ideal place to plead for the release of Hindraf leaders.

He said police did not stop the group at the open house but only requested that they enter in small groups.

Thanenthiran said Hindraf was not a racist or extremist group adding that their leader P. Uthayakumar had even followed fellow Muslim inmates in Kamunting in fasting throughout Ramadan.

He said another reason why they had visited the cabinet Raya open house was because of positive indications that the government might soon release Uthayakumar, 47, R. Kengadharan, 41, M. Manoharan, 47, V. Ganabatirau, 35, and Hindraf coordinator K. Vasantha Kumar, 35.

Meanwhile, Malaysian Indian Business Association president, P. Sivakumar, said Hindraf could not be blamed for using the open house as a platform to meet Abdullah.

"They're faced with mounting pressure from all quarters of the Indian community for the release of their leaders.

"The community understands that the Hindraf five had only voiced their dissatisfaction over temple demolitions and called for equal treatment of Indians as citizens."

- nst

Comments (5)

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written by cheekhiaw, October 03, 2008 11:23:19

Yes, show some basic etiquette when you are at someone else's party, even if it is full of thieves, liars and murderers.

Not like those that throw stones and petrol bombs at others'...

xxx

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written by carribeanking7, October 03, 2008 12:12:51

I am dissapointed with hindraf gate crashing PM's raya do,
there are better ways to do it, it seems that its not only the government who are clueless about doing political public relations.........an opportunity wasted.
they just gave fodder to Ahmad Ismail types, who will say that these are pendatang who dont understand malay culture, not very politically intelligent..

If Hindraf had asked my advice, I would have advised them to, go for the open house , salam maaf and greet the PM, this would have forced the PM to Salam maaf , too.-thrn just enjoy the raya.

Then after raya march to putrajaya together with bar council members , key pakatan MP's and if possible Zaid Ibrahim, then present the teddy bear, petition or whatever.


Vijay Kumar Murugavell

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written by rayfire, October 03, 2008 12:14:39

Please Hindraf, next time safe the trouble of trying to appeal to people who has the slighest idea or regards to the wellbeing of your leaders!
What is needed now is for you to identify a fresh set of leaders to groom and lead the nation for ALL MALAYSIANS!
Seeking justice for only Indians is not the way forward! We need to seek justice for ALL MALAYSIANS!
These people you appealed to are only good at tarnishing this country's image in the name of politics and self proclaimed supremacy!
They will soon be extinct!
So no use trying to revive them and asking them to open their heart to your appeals!
That is something they are lacking of!
Look at new direction, look at grooming all encompassing leaders of the future who sees beyond race and religion and serves all affected Malaysians!
That way justice will prevail once again in our nation!

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written by smeagrooo, October 03, 2008 14:13:25

Next Party, Semi Value house for deepavali!

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written by ahmadneil, October 03, 2008 16:27:15

After Depavalli then go MCA leaders house and screw this balless guys for not openly showing their support to ISA detainees like RPK.Bring 2 footballs along to substitute for their lost balls.

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