PETALING JAYA: Several police reports have been lodged against a group of people who are allegedly spreading hate against the Indian community and Hinduism.
The reports were lodged by six Indian non-governmental organisations at the Sentul district police headquarters on Sunday (Aug 25).
Federal Territory MIC Youth chief S. Siva Shankar said the conduct by the wayward group is unwarranted.
“All Indians have to be united in seeking out economic and educational opportunities for the entire community," said Siva Shankar, who had brought a 12-man team to the police station.
“We also have the task of countering social problems and ills amongst the younger generation and their behaviour of compartmentalising Indian ethnicities is not helping the community at all,’’ he added.
Siva Shankar said MIC Youth will be discussing the matter with its lawyers to find ways to deal with the group for defiling the Indian community.
Similarly, Global Human Rights Federation (GHRF) secretary S. Anbalagan said the police must investigate the group because whatever they had said was seditious.
“We don’t know who they are or what their agenda is, and the police must investigate to find out. The Indian community is a minority here and they want to create discord and shrink us even further,’’ he said when met at the police station.
Anbalagan added the things the group said were unacceptable, especially their stance of using vulgar terms to degrade mothers.
Also present was Malaysia Hindu Sangam deputy secretary M. Mahendran, who said the group had gone too far in its abuse of Hindus and Indians.
“They desecrated the religion as well as mothers and their offspring. For Hindus, the birth of every child is divine and their abusive language was over the limit,’’ said Mahendran.
He urged the authorities to investigate the individuals in the group who were all named in the police reports.
The other three groups that lodged reports were the One Malaysia Indian Association, India Otrumai Padai Welfare Association and Sungai Buloh Community Welfare Association.
Meanwhile Sindhi Association of Malaysia president Rakhee Sawlani said that such insults are uncalled for and added she is appalled by the group’s offensive stance towards women.
She also said it was crucial for all members of the Indian community to stand together instead of segregating themselves within the context of their ethnicities.
“It is very uncultured of them to use such nasty and abusive language to criticise mothers. As a woman, I feel very insulted,’’ said Rakhee.
The group, in a series of live sessions last week on social media platform TikTok, allegedly said Tamils who referred to themselves as Indians in Malaysia were born to mothers who were prostitutes with multiple partners.
The person who was the most vocal in the group had also said that Indians were useless, homeless and had no guts and would be better off as prostitutes.
Ironically, the same man had gone on a hunger strike to protest against the sale of Malaysia Airports Holdings Bhd (MAHB) shares to Israeli-linked company Blackrock recently.
He had aligned himself with the Secretariat for Palestinian Solidarity (SSP) during the fast.
Another man in the group likened Hindus to swine who deserved to be slapped.
The group pushed for Tamils to disassociate themselves from other ethnic Indians as well as Vedic-based Hinduism in Malaysia.
Sources say the group, which has fashioned itself as a Tamil rights group, has about four to five active members, and leans towards a Tamil Nadu-based politician whose ideology revolves around advocating Tamil regional autonomy and nationalism.
Meanwhile, All Malaysia Malayalee association (Amma) president Dr Manohur Kurup said it was improper to insult the Indian community and Hindus with such derogatory terms.
“We are all Malaysian Indians and we should represent ourselves as one large group.
“All Malaysian Indians must stand united as one,’’ he added.
Dr Kurup also said the group should not abuse and insult fellow Indians with so much hate and vulgarity.
The Telugu Association of Malaysia (TAM) said it strongly condemned the spread of hatred by the errant group.
“TAM fully opposes these false accusations that were directed towards the Telugu community, other Indian ethnicities and Hinduism,’’ said association president Dr Vengkata Prathap.
He added TAM and many other Indian NGOs have been working relentlessly hand in hand to safeguard the collective identity and harmony of the various Malaysian Indian ethnicities.
“I hope the relevant authorities will initiate immediate and stern action against these culprits to ensure such incidents do not repeat themselves,’’ he said.
Datuk Bhupatrai Shah, president of the Gujarati Association of Wilayah Persekutuan and Selangor (GAWPS) condemned such unwarranted comments that adversely affected the image of the Malaysian Indian community.
“Such comments are very irresponsible and have no value towards the socio-economic development of the Malaysian Indian community.
“Regardless of our varied ethnicities, we are here as one big Malaysian Indian family and that is the key towards ensuring the community’s wellbeing,’’ he added.
Bhupatrai also urged the authorities to nip in the bud such unhealthy and irresponsible rantings of fringe groups with unknown agendas.
