COMMENT I received many favourable comments sent direct to me on my open letter to Persatuan Hindraf  Malaysia (PHM) chief P Waythamoorthy. Some however have criticised me adversely, out of their love and adoration for PHM and Waythamoorthy.

I was astonished by some of the postings in the Comments section under my piece in Malaysiakini - I was branded as an old man who has done nothing, being a lackey of the MIC, and so on. Am I such a person? I really don't know.

Thank God, I have not been called senile yet. I am but a simple man who keeps doing what I think is possible to serve mankind to the best of my ability. That’s all.

At the age of 23, I was asked to be organising secretary for the first ever Under-13 National Inter-school Tournament to celebrate our Independence in 1957 and I am proud that this event became the start of future inter-state Malaysian Schools Sports Council (or MSSM) tournaments.

It gave me great opportunities in the field of administration of sports - in the MSSM, Malaysian Amateur Athletics Union, Malaysian Gymnastics Federation, the Asean Schools Sports Council and so on, until I was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Olympic Council of Malaysia as a sports administrator.

                        

My first entry into the area of human rights came when I joined the teachers’ union, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and that started my venture into looking into the plights of my fellow teachers.

Those who joined as teachers after me were put into a much inferior salary scale. In the mid-1960s, the NUT resorted to industrial action. I was one of the five teachers who started off the action by boycotting extracurricular activities outside school hours. Other teachers followed suit soon after.

Within days and in the absence of the NUT Industrial Action Committee chairperson, I was  asked to chair the meeting to decide on the date for the teachers to start a mini strike.

That successful exercise had our very humane prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman Putra, forming the Abdul Aziz Royal Commission, which eventually gave the new teachers a much improved salary scheme.

A brand new struggle

My joining the Hindu Youth Organisation (HYO) in 1957 and later the Malaysia Hindu Sangam (MHS) was the beginning of more struggles to come.

Unfortunately, the problems started when the then tough, non-compromising PM Dr Mahathir Mohamad pushed through a new amendment to the Federal Constitution, known as Act 121(A), at a time when many opposition leaders were held under the Internal Security Act (ISA).

MPs and members of the public were not shown the draft before it was hurriedly passed in Parliament.

From 1991, I led or was part of delegations to meet the government on issues such as the implementation of syariah laws; plights of foreign spouses; apostasy; hudud; permits for foreign priests; demolition of temples; the right of government to provide graveyards and crematoriums; conversions; the claiming of dead bodies; family laws and the like.

It was a collective effort by the leaders of the non-Muslim groups. Our approach may not be the same, but we were united. The big difference is that our non-Muslim leaders in the official government machinery were as alert to our grievances as those brought up by Perkasa.

The MHS, Malaysian Hindu Dharma Mahmandram, Malaysian Hindu Youth Council, Hindu Seva Sangam and many Hindu NGOs appointed Waythamoorthy as chairperson of a committee the night the famed Mt Everest climber, Moorthy Maniam ( right ), died. (His body was claimed by the Islamic authorities for burial).

Though I was not there that night because I had just come home after being discharged from an operation, I led many actions from my home by liaising with the family, lawyers and with the Kuala Lumpur Hospital director-general.

We all went through a period of nightmare. Though we lost the case, the authorities helped us with Moorthy's daughter Thenesvari, then nine years old, remaining a Hindu and the payment of his pension and gratuity going to his wife, S Kaliammal, and the house on loan going to Moorthy’s wife as well.

Similarly the families of S Shyamala and Indra Ghandi and many others know about the efforts made by us on conversion issues. We had great voluntary lawyers to back us and these lawyers are still continuing with the unfinished cases.

What were we doing about conversion? Many came to us and we treated these cases confidentially. Some were released from the religion, officially, by the respective authorities, though these cases were just a few.

Others, we had counselled at the MHS or given them options.

Perhaps our critics must understand that MHS also assisted the families of the five Hindraf leaders detained under the ISA after the November 2007 street protest by marginalised Indians as well.

Quizzed by SB

So am I a diplomat or pacifist? Whatever it may be, we, through the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST) have confronted or discussed issues with all parties, including government and political parties.

Whether it is Mahathir, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, S Samy Vellu, Nik Aziz Nik Mat, Hadi Awang, Karpal Singh, Lim Kit Siang or the inspector-general of police, I have always been frank and taken up cases or matters without fear or favour.

They all know it. I have nothing to hide, even though I have regularly been questioned by the police Special Branch.

At the 25th anniversary dinner of MCCBCHST, PM Abdullah ( right ) threw away his official speech  to answer the many queries that I raised in my speech.

PM Mahathir once called for a closed-door meeting after we vehemently opposed his declaration that Malaysia is an Islamic nation.

At a forum of all leading Muslim and non-Muslim leaders at Institut Kefahaman Islam Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, I objected to a deputy minister who said that the native peoples of Sabah and Sarawak were being corrected with conversion to either Islam or Christianity because they were praying to the sun, plants and so on.

I asked him to note that he was a deputy minister and that he should not talk that way of his citizens. I asked him what would happen if the sun was not here anymore and told him also there was nothing wrong with people paying homages of gratitude. He stopped and he was later very apologetic.

My open letter to Waythamoorthy was a friendly one and I merely pointed, indirectly, to the similar difficulties we have faced before.

In fact, I offered to have a discussion with him in order to find our weaknesses. Those who criticised us must note that non-Muslims do not have the equal recognition in Malaysia, which Perkasa gets when it complains.

I rest my case.

A VAITHILINGAM is a former president of the Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism (MCCBCHST).