The police raided two offices belonging to Hindu rights group Hindraf lawyers, P Uthayakumar and his brother Waythamoorthy, to search for a book deemed seditious under the Sedition Act.

Five police officers conducted a search of Uthayakumar's office in Jalan Bangsar, Kuala Lumpur, while about 10 officers were at Waythamoorthy's office in Seremban, Negri Sembilan.

The raids were carried out simultaneously at around 3.30pm.

The police teams, from the Dang Wangi district police headquarters, obtained a search warrant under Section 4(1)(c) of the Sedition Act 1948 from a magistrate's court for the publication entitled '50 Years of Violation of the Federal Constitution by the Malaysian Government'.

The 41-page booklet gives a detailed account of issues discussed by the Reid Commission at every meeting and memoranda submitted by various organisations in the run-up to the framing of the Federal Constitution.

The police officers spent about an hour at Uthayakumar's office before leaving at about 4.30pm without seizing anything.

'Did not find anything'

When contacted, Uthayakumar said: "They did not find anything. I only saw one of them taking pictures of my signboard."

The brothers lead the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf), which recently filed a class-action suit against the British government for bringing Indians to Malaysia as indentured labourers and exploiting them for 150 years.

The quantum being sought is US$4 trillion (RM14 trillion) - or US$1 million for every Indian currently residing in Malaysia.

Hindraf is scheduled to hold a rally outside the British High Commission on Sunday and to hand over a petition asking Queen Elizabeth to appoint her Queen's Counsel and solicitors to represent the minority Indians.

Offences under Section 4(1)(c) for printing, publishing, distributing or reproducing any seditious publication is punishable with a fine not exceeding RM5,000 or by a jail sentence not exceeding three years, or to both.

Meanwhile, Waythamoorthy, when contacted said the police were in his legal firm for about two hours and seized eight items from his office.

"They couldn't find the booklet they were looking for. However they seized some 2,500 copies of the Tamil translation of the legal writ which we filed in London," he said.

Worried for safety

He also said that the police also took with them some leaflets for the Sunday gathering.

"If they had wanted the booklet, they could have just asked us. We would have given them," he said.

"We have nothing to hide. The booklet contained documents of truth."

He also said that the police were trying to stop them from holding the rally on Sunday as well as from pursuing the legal suit by raiding the two offices.

"They are very worried. I can tell you that the suit will proceed. And so will the Sunday gathering."

Waythamoorthy also said the police exceeded the powers vested under their search warrant by taking photographs of his office, including his security system.

"The search warrant was only to search for the booklet and other materials, not to take detailed photographs of my office.

"I am told that they did the same in the KL office too. We are worried for our safety now," he added.

Waythamoorthy also said that there was a possibility now that he and Uthayakumar would be arrested just before the Sunday gathering.

( Photographs are of the raid in Uthayakumar's legal firm in Kuala Lumpur.)

FAQ: Sedition Act 1948

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