IPOH: The MIC will not pressure the Government to release the five Hindraf leaders who are detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) before Deepavali, said its president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu.
Stating that he would be meeting Home Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar soon to discuss the matter, he said he could not specifically mention Deepavali as a timeframe but would leave the Government to make the decision.
“We will not decide on the time frame as that can only be decided by the Home Minister,” he said.
“We will just ask for an early release.”
“We do not want to unnecessarily intrude into his authority and work,” he told reporters after opening an MIC rebranding workshop here yesterday,
The MIC is hoping to get the Hindraf 5 -- M. Manoharan, P. Uthayakumar, V. Ganabatirau, R. Kenghadharan and K. Vasanthakumar -- released after being detained for organising a public rally last November.
Samy Vellu also ticked off those who chided the party for seeking publicity using the Hindraf issue, adding that MIC was a big and strong party.
On the issue of stateless Indians in the country, Samy Vellu said the party had prepared a detailed report on it to be presented to the Cabinet Committee on Indian Community Development, which is chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak.
He said that the party, through the MIC-owned Social Strategic Foundation, had helped to obtain citizenship for 200 stateless Malaysians between 1999 and 2008.
“There are, however, still 1,000 unsolved cases,” he said when commenting on calls by the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) for a special task force to look into the problem.
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