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London: An exiled
human rights lawyer from Malaysia has decided to re-file a billion
dollar suit against the British governnment, blaming it for having
failed to protect the Indian Malaysians when independence was
granted to the former colony in 1957.
Waytha Moorthy, the London-based lawyer, wants a million-dollar
compensation for each of Malaysia's 1.8 million Indians on the
grounds that the then Harold MacMillian government failed to
protect them in 1957.
Moorthy, 46, will attend the high court Monday to re-issue his
class action lawsuit against the British government, a press
release stated.
Originally launched in 2007, but never heard and now out of time,
Waytha Moorthy's claim is on behalf of Indian Malaysians. He says
these people face appalling human rights abuses and live
unprotected and in "continuous colonisation" under the rule of the
Malay-Muslim majority.
Moorthy argues this situation is the direct legacy of the then
British government who gave the Muslim population special rights
and privileges in perpetuity in Article 153 of the Constitution of
Malaysia, effectively establishing a system of apartheid which has
marginalised Malaysian Indians ever since.
"The British government needs to take responsibility, apologise,
make reparation, and send out a strong message that the way the
Malay government is acting is morally wrong."
Moorthy is also the chair of HINDRAF, a non-governmental NGO
advocating equal rights for Malaysians of Indian origin.
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