Some 40 Malaysian Indians gathered outside the Parliament building today wanting to submit a protest note to Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.

However, the group led by Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) legal adviser P Uthayakumar left the protest note at the building's gates because their demand to meet Abdullah or any Umno ministers was not met.

The group had come to voice their dissatisfaction over Budget 2008, which they claimed was not favourable for the "70 percent hardcore poor Indians."

Reading out the note, Uthayakumar said: "We applaud the government for allocating a very big amount for the Orang Asli. But at the same time, we would like to point out that nothing has been allocated for hardcore poor Indians."

"We are also disappointed that no provisions were made for the minimum wage of RM1,000 per month," he said.

"Furthermore, the five years maternity leave to bring up quality children granted to civil servants was also not extended to the private sector," he said, adding that only the Malays who "dominate" the civil service will benefit from the policy.

Uthayakumar also appealed to Abdullah to adjust Budget 2008 accordingly to include a RM990 million allocation for all Tamil schools in the country.

"The allocation will liberate the schools into fully aided primary schools at least in conjunction with Malaysia having been independent for 50 years and give effect to your declaration that schooling will be totally free in Malaysia as reported in the New Straits Times," he said.

"We also appeal for another RM2 billion, which is only about 1.2 percent of the total budget to help the hardcore poor Indians in the country," he added.

'Fourth class citizens'

Uthayakumar urged the government to "treat all Malaysians, including the Indians, as human beings and not as fourth class citizens after the Malays, Chinese, and many foreign workers because they do not have much political, economic or international clout."

Earlier, the group was stopped at the entrance of the road heading to Parliament by the police.

Commenting on this, an upset Uthayakumar ( photo:left ) remarked: "It's called Dewan Rakyat, and we the rakyat are not allowed to go in."

He also criticised Abdullah for not acknowledging the group's demand to receive the protest note.

"We sent him a letter yesterday, asking him to be present here. Or, if he could not make it, we asked him to assign an Umno minister who will be able to receive the note," he said.

When Dewan Rakyat secretary Mahmood Adam came to receive the protest note, Uthayakumar refused to hand it to him.

"Don't tell me none of the ministers are in today," he said, refusing to listen to Mahmood's explanation that no ministers are in Parliament as they were away attending post Cabinet meetings.

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