Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi shrugged off the possibility of any members of the Hindu Rights Action Force (Hindraf) from contesting in the coming general election.

According to Bernama, the premier said Hindraf members cannot contest on the movement’s ticket because it is an unrecognised body.

abdullah ahmad badawi pak lah 131107 01 "They can contest if they fufilled the stipulated conditions," he was quoted as saying.

He advised individuals to fulfill conditions first in order to contest.

"Whoever wants to contest, can contest, provided the person is eligible, but not in the name of an unrecognised body," he reportedly said.

The Barisan Nasional chief was responding to recent speculations that Hindraf leaders - currently detained under the Internal Security Act (ISA) - might be fielded as candidates in the upcoming general election.

However, the detainees might be contesting under the auspices of opposition party DAP and not Hindraf.

Of the five Hindraf leaders held in Kamunting, M Manoharan and V Ganabatirau are the two tipped as possible candidates as they are DAP members.

Detainees contested before

The other three are P Uthayakumar, R Kengadharan and K Vasantha Kumar. Uthayakumar - now a popular figure in Hindraf - is a PKR member.

uthayakumar interview 051207 contempt In a report by Star, the group's counsel M Kulasegaran said there had been many requests through short message service (SMS) wanting Uthayakumar to contest in the Sungai Siput parliamentary seat currently held by MIC president S Samy Vellu.

"The requests were from society at large," Kulasegaran was quoted as saying.

However, Parti Sosialis Malaysia leader D Jeyakumar had announced he would likely contest the Sungai Siput seat.

He previously lost in the 1999 and 2004 elections while standing on the DAP and PKR ticket respectively.

This is not the first time a detainee was fielded as an election candidate.

In 1978, the party fielded two ISA detainees Chan Kok Kit and Chang Heng Kai in the Sungai Besi and Batu Gajah parliamentary seats respectively.

The duo were detained for nearly five years under the ISA for alleged communist links that was never proven. They won the seats comfortably, being incumbents.

On Dec 13, the Hindraf quintet were arrested by the police under Section 8(1) of the ISA, for allegedly carrying out activities that threatened national security.

In a rare move, the five were sent straight to the Kamunting detention centre in Taiping, Perak, to be detained for two years, without undergoing the usual 60-day investigation period.