Hindraf did not approach unity panel, says minister

PUTRAJAYA: The Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) never approached the National Unity Advisory Panel over its grouses, said Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Dr Maximus Ongkili.
He said the Parliamentary Select Committee on National Unity and National Service that he chaired also did not hear from Hindraf.
He said 250 groups from diverse backgrounds had submitted some 600 memorandums and proposals to the panel set up to hear grouses from Malaysians.
“We will welcome any proposal from Hindraf,” he told reporters after a dialogue with Federal CID director Datuk Christopher Wan and Malaysian Crime Prevention Foundation members at his office here yesterday.
Dr Ongkili said groups should use only legal means to express their unhappiness. Resorting to illegal avenues such as rallies would only raise suspicion that they had other motives and intentions, he added.
As the minister in charge of national unity and integration, Dr Ongkili said his officers had attended some of Hindraf’s functions.
“They reported to us that this group is intent on creating violence,” he said, urging all Malaysians to help preserve the country’s stability.
Hindraf, which held an illegal rally last Sunday to hand over a memorandum to the British High Commission, claimed that the Malaysian Government was carrying out ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Indian minority in the country.
“Our officers as well as the 3,600 Rukun Tetangga members are monitoring the situation,” he said, adding that he also found the contents of their memorandum to be seditious and baseless.
On the dialogue, Dr Ongkili said that a nationwide campaign against rape would be held next February to inform the public that 70% of rapes committed were by people known to the victims.

tunku : hindraf will never approach malaysia government to to hear their grouses as the grouses is baseless and full of slanders.they just want to create tension and it's politically motivated. the are political hands behind them. if they are sincere they had gone to the government but no,they are going abroad to tarnish Malaysia's name internationally.we can't afford to lose our racial harmony because of this group called hindraf.