Insults rained on MIC president S Samy Vellu during a PKR ceramah held hours after five Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) leaders were arrested under the Internal Security Act (ISA) yesterday.

Titled ‘50 years after independence: Where do the Indians go from here?’, the ceramah in Klang arguably saw the biggest ever Indian turnout for a PKR event.

Some 4,000 people packed into a small field to hear PKR leader Anwar Ibrahim’s speech.

The nearly five-hour-long ceramah was consistently punctuated with jeers and insults directed at the MIC president.

When Anwar arrived at about 10.30pm, he was mobbed by the crowd, sending security personnel scrambling to escort him to the stage.

In his speech, Anwar repeatedly stressed that he is a leader for all ethnic groups and would defend the rights of all.

‘Law of the jungle’

He lambasted the government for invoking the ISA against the Hindraf leaders, adding that the government was practising the "law of the jungle".

"Umno criticised Hindraf for certain things. Yes. I too disagree with a few things (which Hindraf stands for)

"But what about the welfare of the Indian community? What about the Indian poor? What about the Hindu temples that they (the government) are demolishing?" he asked to loud roars of approval.

"I have been detained under the ISA. PKR opposes this - we don't support the ISA. If we become the government, we will abolish this law!" he exclaimed.

Anwar said the government should rightfully charge the Hindraf leaders in an open court.

"Instead, they arrest them. Now we don't even know where they are. What are their crimes?... This is the law of the jungle!" he added.

Maika Holdings scandal

Earlier, PKR secretary-general William Leong stirred up the crowd when he spoke on the Maika Holdings scandal.

He explained that the company was set up to aid the Indian community but the money has been allegedly siphoned off.

"So who cheated the people of their money?" he asked the crowd. “Samy Vellu!” came the loud response.

Formed in1982, Maika Holdings was purportedly established to enable Indian Malaysians to have a share in the country’s economic growth. It raised RM106 million from 66,000 investors.

However, the company has been a spectacular failure with many of its business ventures failing to take off, leaving investors in the lurch.

Who’s richer?

Another speaker, PKR vice-president Azmin Ali also got the crowd into a frenzy with his fiery speech.

"Recently, the media repeatedly said that the Indians are richer than the Malays. Is this true?" he asked. This elicited loud cries of " Bohong (lies)!" and " Samy paling kaya (Samy is the richest)!" from the crowd.

On Inspector-General of Police Musa Hassan's claim that Hindraf and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ellam are linked, Azmin said the police must produce evidence.

He said the police had similarly claimed in 2001, without producing any evidence, that reformasi leaders such as himself, Mohd Ezam Noor, Saari Sungip, Tian Chua, Hishamuddin Rais, Badrul Amin and Lokman Adam were planning to take over the country by force.

"It was just an excuse to detain us under the ISA," he added.