Malaysia tells New Delhi to back off

Malaysia has told India not to meddle in its internal affairs after New Delhi expressed concerns over the treatment of ethnic Indians in the multicultural Muslim-majority country.

Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said the government would deal with citizens according to its own laws and no other country should interfere, the Star newspaper reported on Saturday.

Last Sunday, more than 10,000 Malaysian Indians staged the community's biggest anti-government protest, sparked by anger over policies they say prevent them from getting decent jobs or a good education for their children.

Police used tear gas and water cannon to disperse the protesters, many of them Tamils with their roots in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, sparking outrage and demands from Tamil politicians that New Delhi intervene.

"If they break any law, it is our right to deal with them in accordance with Malaysian laws," Syed Hamid was quoted as saying.

India said on Friday it was concerned about the treatment of ethnic Indians in Malaysia and had taken up with Kuala Lumpur accusations that protesters from the community had been harassed.

"The government remains deeply solicitous for the welfare of people of Indian origin living abroad," Indian Foreign
Minister Pranab Mukherjee told parliament.

"We have friendly relations with Malaysia and we are in touch with the Malaysian authorities in the related matter."

Claims of maltreatment

Multi-racial Malaysia has denied claims it mistreated ethnic Indians, saying that they were better off than those in
India. Ethnic Indians form 7 percent of Malaysia's 26 million people.

Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi lashed out at the Hindu rights group, which organized Sunday's protest, saying it had wrongly accused the Malaysian government of racism.

"I'm really angry ... this blatant lie cannot be tolerated at all," he was quoted as saying by the state news agency Bernama.

"In our 50 years of independence, we never had any problems with the Indians. The Indians have played their role in being staunch supporters of the Malaysian government."

New Delhi's expression of solidarity came as Hindu Rights
Action Force (Hindraf) said its leader had left for India before heading to London, Geneva, Brussels and Washington to lobby for international support.

Hindraf said its chairman, P. Waythamoorthy, left Malaysia on Wednesday "in the light of the crackdown and threats of detention without trial".

He is expected to meet Indian leaders including the foreign minister and chief minister of Tamil Nadu.

The rally was officially in support of a multi-trillion dollar lawsuit accusing former colonial ruler Britain of being at the root of Indians' economic problems by bringing their ancestors as indentured laborers in the 1800s.

But it was more squarely aimed at the ruling United Malays National Organization (UMNO), which stands for Malay interests and has ruled the nation since independence a half-century ago.

While Malays control the political scene and the Chinese population is dominant in business, Indians complain they run a distant third in terms of wealth, education and opportunities.