Several civil rights groups today condemned Sunday's arrest of a group of Indian nationals, calling it an excessive use of police powers.

In separate press statements, labour rights organisation Tenaganita and the National Human Rights Society (Hakam) criticised the police action as "abusive, intolerant and brutal".

"The police force is able to act with such impunity and arrogance because the authorities, in particular the Home Ministry, have condoned such actions and have even very consistently protected the police force," said Tenaganita director Irene Fernandez ( photo ).

Hakam president Ramdas Tikamdas said the "alleged police excessess" violated the constitutional rights to liberty of those arrested.

A group of Indian nationals, mostly IT professionals and lecturers, were arrested early morning at the Palm Court condominium in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur o­n suspicion of being illegal immigrants.

The incident has sparked off a diplomatic row between Malaysia and India with the latter sending two separate protests to the Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Make police accountable

Fernandez stressed that the government has to carry out an independent inquiry and take action against those responsible for the raid.

"Acting Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, who is also the Home Affairs Minister, must be held accountable for the form of treatment meted out to Indian nationals. He has to guarantee all foreign nationals that this form of violence will not be condoned and will be stopped.

"But in order to build any form of confidence, all police personnel involved, including the head of the Brickfields police station and the Kuala Lumpur police chief Dell Akbar Khan must be made accountable," she said.

In addition, Fernandez said that the manner in which the police operation was carried out also hinted at racism by the force.

"According to the Criminal Procedure Code, the police are allowed to arrest a person if there is a suspicion of an offence being committed. But in this violent incident of detention, the fact that a class of nationals, Indians, being identified as potential illegal immigrants, is nothing but racism," she stressed.

Until the government is willing to address "institutionalised racism", Fernandez said that foreign governments should stop sending their nationals to work in Malaysia.

"It is indeed time that all foreign workers returned to their home countries. Malaysian authorities as well as employers do not value the labour. Foreign workers are treated as commodities that can be used, abused, tortured and discarded with impunity," she said.

Complaint lodged

Meanwhile, Hakam president Ramdas said that the organisation had lodged a complaint with the Human Rights Commission of Malaysia (Suhakam) so that an inquiry can be made into the allegations of infringement of human rights of the Indian nationals.

"Article 9 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides that no o­ne shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention. It is also axiomatic that all persons deprived of their liberty shall be treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity of the human person," he said.

Meanwhile, human rights organisation Suaram also criticised the police raid as a gross violation of human rights.

"They are our guests. We must treat them with dignity. This is a serious issue. Malaysia should not just make an apology but also make sure the incident does not rear its ugly head again," Suaram spokesperson S Arutchelvan ( right ) was quoted as saying by the AFP news agency.

Investigation launched

In a related development, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the government would investigate the allegations.

However, he said that initial findings showed no wrongdoing o­n the part of the police and that they had merely exercised their duty.

Meanwhile, Kuala Lumpur deputy police chief Ahmad Bahrin Idrus denied that the Indian nationals had been mistreated

According to a Bernama report today, he said from the start of the operation the police had acted within the law.