Hindraf urges the people to wake up and see how the laws of the country are being subverted by an extremely threatened and desperate group within Umno just so that they can hang on to power. Khairuddin Abu Hassan and Matthias Chang are being charged with security offences of attempts to sabotage essential banking and financial services of the nation.

This reminds of how Hindraf was charged in its earliest days of being a national security threat by its apparent alliance with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Hindraf urges the heads of the various institutions of governance to stand true to their national charter and carry out their tasks in the interest of people and the nation. We urge the cabinet ministers, the Judiciary, the attorney-general and the inspector-general of police (IGP) to do what is right for the nation as a whole and not to compromise national institutional integrity by virtue of their current positions and power.

The only consideration among the heads of these various institutions should be on how to preserve the interest of the nation.

What Khairuddin and Chang are charged with are for their reports about criminal acts of money laundering attempts at various international financial centres in Hong Kong, in Paris and in Switzerland by 1MDB - just another company,. The difference is that 1MDB is a company that is allegedly set up to promote the interests of Najib Abdul Razak and the powerful elite within Umno.

The laws of a country are written to maintain order in the running of society, just so that episodes such as this may be kept in check. This is what we all believe. But here revealed before us is a clear example of how the law itself becomes a tool for the self preservation of the elite that holds power in the absence of effective institutional checks and balances.

This is the truth with the gloves off, call it Security Offences (Special Measures) Act (Sosma), call it Penal Code, call it Internal Security Act (ISA), call by any name.

In the process, what protection the law provides to the people is being emptied of its contents and the entire nation left vulnerable at the hands of a greedy few. Hindraf strongly condemns this tendency. There is no national security threat here at all, there is only the threat of us all living in a world without protection of the law.

It is worse for minority ethnic communities in our ethnocentric political state - the rule of law is the only protection and guarantee for freedom and justice for minority communities worldwide and particularly so in our country. It is therefore in all our interest that this slide must stop.

Hindraf urges the leaders in government to come to their senses and do what they must for the well-being of our nation.

N GANESAN is national adviser, Hindraf.