Thank you, Pak Lah for dropping the attempted murder charges against the 31 Indian Hindraf detainees. At last you have listened to our condemnation of the attempted murder charges. The Bar Council and many prominent leaders too have condemned the action. In fact, at the final hearing of the illegal assembly charges, all detainees should be acquitted and discharged with just a warning.

After meeting some Indian NGOs recently, you now know the truth about the Indian Malaysian’s plight. I need not repeat them. Many have written about the poor state of Indians in the country. I have sent all my viewpoints directly to you besides having them published in Malaysiakini .

Now that the 31 are free from this burden, please ensure that these poor souls are not sacked by their employers. Their income is vital for their survival and of their families. They have already gone through extreme suffering and torture over the past weeks besides losing their earnings for being absent from work.

The AG’s reasons for withdrawing the attempted murder charges appears suspicious. When he said in court, “We cannot pinpoint who amongst them threw the stone that caused injury to the person” did he ever realise the consternation, mental torture and physical suffering of both the detainees and their families? This is why I called the charges an “atrocious ingenuity”. The detainees are definitely entitled for government compensation for this wrongful charge.

Pak Lah, now that you know the truth you have another important task to do. Please release the five Indians detained under ISA soonest as there is no justification for their detention under ISA. Admittedly, you would have realised that you had been wrongly advised on this matter.

Strong words like “ethnic cleansing” were used by at least one of the detainees. The phrase was originally used when a particular race was forcibly relocated to another area within a nation for political reasons. Gerrymandering, or the shifting boundaries for political manoeuvres, came much later. With the Bosnian conflict in recent years, the term “ethnic cleansing” resurfaced with new meaning, equating it to genocide.

As lawyers, the detainees should have properly defined what they mean when using the phrase “ethnic cleansing” rather than leaving it open-ended. I suppose they meant the shifting of unskilled and uneducated Indians to suburban slums after the sale or fragmentation of established estates. Nevertheless, this does not warrant detention under ISA. At worst, they could be charged for sedition.

With your compassion and wisdom, please authorise their release from ISA detention soonest as you have beautifully said “When I die I have to answer the Almighty God.”